Teardrops and Bloodstains
by Blood Wren
Summary: Tails is female in this. Shock horror, deal with it. My attempt at a seriousish fanfic, with romance, 'action' and the like. It starts of lighthearted as I starting writing it when I was 14. Mostly from Tails' POV.
1. The Beach Party

Teardrops and Bloodstains – Chapter 1

Ok ok… I know Tails is a boy! But for the sake of this story… he is a she (!). Right… my first fanfic so be kind and fair… 'blink'. It's TailsX? (Hahahaha you've gotta read it now!)

BTW, I might accidentally swap tenses by accident :S, I'm like that… heh heh…

I am 14, I live on a rock, and I have no money… Does it sound like I own Sonic? Or Tails? Knuckles? Shadow? Amy? Cream and Cheese? Or Rouge? ANYONE? No!

(On with the Fanfic :P)

'''

"Come on Tails! Keep up already!"

"'Pant' I'm trying Sonic… You're going too fast! 'Pant'"

Another day… another race. My life is getting better again. The sun is beating down onto my fur, and I can feel the warm sand between my toes. Today is the beach party we've all been looking forward to, on the coast of the Floating Island. The only disadvantage to that is that we can't go too far out into the water… or we'll get washed of the edge! Amy, Cream and Cheese the Chao, Knuckles, me, Sonic, Shadow, Rouge, Big and Chaotix Crew are here. Amy, Cream, Rouge and Big are playing Volleyball… Cream's on Big's side… I'm worried … what if he trips on her? Oh, Knux has just brought the drinks out… that's sorted it.

"Sonic… can I get a drink? Please?"

"Wha'? Oh… yeah, you must be boiling under that fur… go ahead!"

"Thanks"

I take to the air because the sand is burning my feet.I notice Shadow has left the party… oh no, he's just gone into the shade, don't blame him! I land beside Cream, alarming Cheese…

"Oops… sorry Cheese! You ok?"

The young Chao stops screaming at me and nods.

"You'd better be careful around here Tails! It's windy higher up and we don't want you getting blown off do we?"

I look up only to be met by the kind, amethyst eyes of Knuckles.

"Yeah… It isn't like it is at Station Square… with the tall buildings!" Cream piped up.

I look down at her little angelic face.

"I suppose not!" I smile at her, and she returns the gesture, collecting her lemonade from the tray Knuckles was holding. I do the same and we go and sit underneath a large palm tree with Big and Amy. I start to glance around, you know, as you do. My bangs are getting in my eyes, spurred on by a gentle breeze. I spot the slender shape that is Vector in the water… not again! He's trying to creep up on Espio and Mighty again. Oh well, nothing to do with me.

"Where's Shadow? He said he was staying all day this time!"

"Oh, I think he's still in the shade."

"Oh, YOU know do you?"

"What! I saw him while me and Sonic where racing!"

"…whatever…"

Honestly… Amy can be sooo annoying at times! Those rumors should be long-gone! I don't even know why they started. Amy probably stirring up trouble as usual.

"Are you ok Tails? You look pale…"

I look up. Oh, only Sonic.

"I'm fine… honestly Sonic, It's just the heat."

"You sure?"

"Yes…"

I put my hand up to my face, to rub my forehead. As I do, I notice the long, thick scar going all the way around my wrist. I move my arm, and look away.

"Some things are hard to forget aren't they?"

I prick my ears up, did I just hear that?

"W…what?"

"Your hand… you never really got over it, did you?"

My hand, my metal hand.

"_Not last time, but the time before, when Eggman came back, he… he captured me. Apparently Amy didn't make very good conversation. So Sonic, Knuckles, Cream and Amy came to save me, and Eggman said: _

_"Give me the Chaos Emeralds or your little friend loses her hand!"_

_Sonic, being Sonic, gave him the Emeralds. But Eggman, being Eggman, did it anyway. I lost a LOT of blood. If Sonic wasn't there I would be dead now. He ran me full-pelt to the nearest hospital and then offered to give me his blood. I only have the doctor's, Sonic's and Knuckles' word for this, because I was out cold."_

I look up at Sonic. My eyes are fighting a losing battle to keep back the tears. I have to look away, now, because I don't want to let him see me cry. I think he's noticed though. He's crouching in front of me. Oh heck.

"Do you wanna go somewhere on your own?"

I nod. Anywhere please… I start to stand up, I'm shaking inside but I don't think it shows. I take to the air again, staying low to avoid the winds Knuckles was on about. I start to fly back to the forest. I see why they all this place "Angel Island" back down on Mobius. It really is beautiful. My vision starts to blur, the tears are creeping back. Landing by a tree, I wipe my eyes. Much clearer. I'm gonna go to the place Knuckles showed me. It's calmer there. As I approach it, I hear footsteps. Instinctively, I dash behind a tree. I can just see the clearing. The sudden temperature change is making my fur stand on end, there is something sharp in my side, and I'm snagged by something. But through my fear, I'm staying put.

A few minutes seem to have passed, so I'm daring myself to look outside. All I can see is green and brown, so I step out, brushing off any twigs/thorns that are snagging me. I prick my ears up for noises – none.

"Why where you in there?" A cool voice from behind me spoke, and in my shock made me jump up and yell:

"HOLY CRAP! SHADOW! STOP DOING THAT!"

"Sorry Tails, but the shock of seeing me would have scared you more."

I let my eyes focus on him more. Oh my god! He's bleeding heavily from his side, and his right eye was closed slightly due to a large slash across his face.

"W…what…what happened?"

"Nice animals Knuckles has around here, doesn't he?"

"What?"

"Oh come on now Tails, you're not stupid…"

"What kind of… what did this?"

"I'm not sure, kinda fast."

"Shadow!"

He just fell down. Kneeling beside him, I'm getting a better look at the wounds. They look like bites... that's why he collapsed, he's been poisoned.

"Shadow? Can you hear me?"

"Ngg…"

"Can you stand? Shadow? Don't go to sleep… please!"

"Y…yeah."

Oh my god… oh my god, oh my god! What can I do? I help him up, but he's swaying.

"Can you walk?"

He gives me a gentle nod, then tries to move. He's swaying again. He falls on me. I would leave him here to get help, but the thing might still be here. I've got no choice.

"SONIC! KNUCKLES! HELP!"

I heave him off me and wait, what, 5 seconds? Sonic comes zooming in.

"Oh my god! What? Who…?"

Knuckles has caught up by now.

"'Pant' Tails… 'Pant' Did he say anything? 'Pant' Did he say what it 'Pant' was? 'Pant'"

"Something fast… he said some kind of animal…he's been bitten…"

Everything was rushing out of my head in panic. I'm starting to shake again.

"I… I… no… I…"

Sonic comes up to me a hugs me.

"It's ok Tails… It's ok…"

Tears are welling up in my eyes again. They start to spill onto Sonic's chest. Knuckles heaves Shadow onto his back and sprints off to the beach again.

"He… just…I…"

I know I'm making no sense. Sonic should understand me though. A while ago… in another Anti-Eggman battle, I thought I'd lost Sonic. He was lying there, in his own blood, he knew how I felt. That all over again for me. It had happened to him. With me and Amy. Eggman catching us, or just getting hurt. Everyone has done this to him. He keeps cool though, I can't. I have a mental block and start to make no sense. It's mainly because I get emotionally attached to everyone, missions, everything. I know somewhere in Sonic head, he's panicking, but it doesn't show. My sobs are becoming calmer, but I swear that I hear rustling, but it's nothing, I can feel sonic shifting slightly, it's his shoes…

_"That's when it happened, just like that. It struck me. I fell. The last thing I could hear was Sonic telling me to stay awake. I couldn't. I know my body isn't as strong as Shadow's. So that means the poison didn't take as long to get into my system. I remember waking up, Cream's tear filled eyes and Shadow, he was alive, but he was heavily bandaged, also, his right eye was half-closed." _

"Sonic? SONIC! Tails is awake!" I heard Knuckles shouting down the corridor.

2 seconds… just 2 seconds it took him. I noticed everyone filing out of the room as he arrived. What? Was I that badly hurt? I went to move all of my limbs. They're all working… my hand? I look down. All of the flesh has been taken off. Just the metal inside left. They've seen it… all of them.

"Tails? Are you ok? I… I… you look pale… I mean you… I…"

I looked at him. Sonic, Stuttering? Of all the people, he was… is he crying? Tears are in his eyes.

"Sonic? You're crying?"

"What… oh I suppose. You had me worried little buddy."

He cracks a small smile.

"I see Shadow's ok. How long have I been out for?"

"Does it matter?"

"Well kinda…"

Sonic looks as if he really doesn't want tell me.

"Uh… well…"

"6 Months"

My head turns around to see Amy, pouting as usual.

"You had us all worried. You should have heard Cream. And Cheese, the poor little thing got ill."

"What?"

"It's true. Shadow's going on that it's all his fault, and so is Knuckles, says it's his Island, his responsibility, you know, about the animals, blah blah blah…" Sonic replies.

"How long…"

"Was Shadow out for?"

I nod slowly; there is a sharp pain in my neck, causing me to wince.

"2 days. The doctors said something about his body being stronger than yours, so therefore… well you get the idea."

_"I was in that hospital for another 2 weeks. Sonic, Cream and Cheese, Knuckles and Shadow kept visiting me. They covered up my hand again, with nerves. I could now feel with it. I wasn't perfect, but it was better that it was. When I finally got out, I knew something else was going to happen. But I didn't know what and when… or who I would be with."_

'''

Dun Dun DDDDDUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!

Hahahahahahahahahaha! 'cough'. That was fun to write! Well… apart from hurting Tails and Shadow! Review please! Please Review the individual chapters cos my writing varies a lot!


	2. Thing's start to slip

Teardrops and Bloodstains – Chapter 2

Hi again… tis me Blood Wren with another chapter! It's gonna get darker peeps… I hope! Please read and review (First Fanfic… be kind :S)

BTW, I might accidentally swap tenses by accident :S

I sadly don't own Sonic and Co.… :'(. But I do own this Fanfic! Mwahahaha!

'''

I woke up groggy and almost smashed my alarm clock to bits. Rolling over onto my side, I notice a small, pale blue Chao looking offended.

"Oh, good morning Cheese!"

Since the Beach Party incident, Cream and Cheese moved in. This is mainly because Sonic needed someone to watch over me while he was away. He didn't tell us where he went, but now he's back and better than ever. At first, it was only temporary, Cream and Cheese where just staying until Sonic got back, but when Sonic did come back, they didn't want to leave. Sonic, Vanilla and I had a talk, Sonic said that I needed someone to make sure I was eating alright etc, and Vanilla said she was enjoying the peace of no small people. So they came to live with me.

"TAILS! Sonic's here!"

Wiping my eyes clean, I stumble into the bathroom, in search for a comb. I finally find one, and attempt to neaten my mass of fur. I wash my face, and brush my tails. I walk down the stairs about 5 minutes, now wide awake.

"Morning Sonic."

"Hiya Tails. How ya feeling?"

"Been better. What have you got there?"

"What? Oh this?" He said indicating to a small envelope on the table. "Shadow gave it to me to give to you… did that make sense?"

"Yeah."

He picks it up and hands it to me. So I open it. Shadow's thin handwriting appears.

_Tails_

_I need to talk to you, alone. Nothing dodgy… I promise. Meet me at Hill Top Zone, 10am Monday._

_Please_

_Shadow_

I fold up the letter. That's all? Well, today's Saturday, so… 2 days time. I look up Sonic, playing with his Chao – Super – Small, spiky, and vibrantly yellow. "_Nothing dodgy_" I mull the idea over in my head, but Sonic breaks me from my thoughts:

"Tails? Everything ok?"

"What? Oh, yeah…"

"Well, what did it say?"

"I gotta meet him at Hill Top Zone on Monday. 10am."

Sonic just looks at me, a kind of 'You-know-what-he-can-be-like' look.

"I know, but…"

"Be careful. This is Shadow we're on about."

My ears started to droop. I sigh, same old Sonic, worrier of the year times 100. I put my hands on the table, and my chin on them.

"What should I do?"

"…Whatever you feel is right…"

"I… I don't know"

I could feel myself on the verge of crying. My emotions are all over the place at the moment. It's a good thing Cream is out of the room, I can feel myself breaking down already. I bury my head in my hands. Sonic gets up quickly and runs over to me.

"Tails? Tails…"

'Knock Knock'

"Hmm… who could that be? Tails, got into the main room, try and calm down ok?"

I nod and get up slowly, following Sonic up the stairs and into the main room.

'Knock Knock'

"Ok, Ok… Jeez."

All I hear is the door handle squeaking. And then:

"Son… ic. The… emeralds."

That's Knuckles… Forgetting my problems, I rush out of the room. Knuckles, proud Guardian of the Chaos Emeralds is lying on the floor, outside, and covered in blood.

"Oh my god! Knuckles… Sonic, get him in!"

_"We didn't know what had happened. He couldn't tell us. He was out cold for about three hours. When he did wake up, his speech was limited due to the energy consumption"_

"Eggman… Island… Taken the emeralds… Emerald Chamber…no…"

_"That's all we got from him. After that, we had to drop him, Cream and Cheese at Vanilla's house, luckily she didn't mind. We got into the Tornado, and took off for the Floating Island. It was a complete mess. Only the outer-most Zones where untouched. The Emerald Chamber had been blown up, causing the destruction of 2 major zones – the Lava Reef, and Hidden Palace Zones. We could do nothing… Nothing to help them. Lava had spilled over the Mushroom Hill Zone, killing everything. Due to the low smoke and debris, we couldn't land. We just had to wait for Knuckles to be well enough to sort this out. And without the Emeralds, it was going to lose altitude and crash. A brief phase of uncomfortable nostalgia swam over me. I'm sure you're familiar with the story (Sonic 3 and Knuckles/Sonic and Knuckles)."_

We started to land the tornado, I was feeling strangely jumpy and the emotions came flooding back... I can't help it anymore, Sonic tries to help me but, it just isn't working. After landing, my Chao - Twin - a small, dark orange fox-like twin tailed chao - comes flying up to me and starts screaming in it's little, high pitched little language:

"Chao chao chao CHAO!"

"I'm sorry Twin... I don't understand..."

She flies around me, and starts flying away.

"Twin! Wait up! Sonic, lock up the Tornado will ya?"

I throw him the keys. He catches them, but his face... his face was telling me not go.

"Sonic... I'll be ok! Please!"

And before he can answer, I race after Twin.

"Chao Chao Chao"

"What? This way? But Twin... That's the sea!"

"Chao Chao CHAO!"

"Ok...ok!

She flies down and lands on a rock.

"Chaochaochaochao! CHAO!"

I see a glint of light in my eyes. I look down at the source.

"A Chaos Emerald... wait, this one is..."

Shadow's. Shadow's Emerald. I pick it up and hold it to the sun, almost checking to see if it's authentic, which it is.

"That's a cute, brave and incredibly stupid Chao you've got there Tails!"

I spin around, I don't know what to expect. Eggman, standing not 2 feet from me, holding... holding...

"I know another incredibly stupid creature! His name... Shadow!"

He's holding Shadow by the neck, like a rag doll.

"Let him go! And what have you done with the other Emeralds! And the Floating Island!"

"My my Tails, you ARE quick. Ok, have Shadow back... see if I care, but for you..."

He throws Shadow at me, knocking me over so that my head cracks on the rock that Twin is on. Everything is in double. Eggman's hand reaching to grab me, Sonic fighting him... wait... Sonic! My eyes snap back into focus... Sonic is fighting Eggman?

"What have you done to them?"

"Tails is just unconscious, as for Shadow... powerless without his Emerald... wait... where's the Emerald?"

"Looks like that brain of yours isn't quite working at this present moment!"

"Why you little spikeball!"

I look down at the limp body that is numbing my legs. The Emerald... I reach out behind me, feeling for it. My gloved fingers can't make out the texture of the Emerald, but it almost flies into my hand. Flies... Twin. I would look around but Eggman would notice I'm awake. I gently bring the Emerald back around the rock.

"Shadow..." I whisper in his ear.

A groggy eye opens. From what I can see, it looks bloodshot and painful.

"Don't move... please don't move"

"Why... why do I feel like this?"

"Eggman took your Emerald, but I've got it now... hold still."

Just by going near him, the Emerald reacted to Shadow. His eyes look up into mine and he gives a weak smile.

"No... Shadow don't..."

"Chaos Control!"

He grabs my arm. This is a very uncomfortable feeling. It feels like being drunk, mixed with being beaten around the head. Everything is dark, but red lights flashed up. We land on a carpet, my carpet.

"Shadow... are you alright?"

"I'm fine... I'm worried about you though... I'm not good at Chaos Control with two people."

"I've been better. Shadow?"

"Yeah"

"Could you get off?"

"Yeah… what!"

He got up faster than anything and scratches behind his ear.

"Heh heh... sorry about that..."

Is he? No... He is! He's blushing? I... I don't understand. Does he? No... Tails shut up. He doesn't, he's not like that, he's Shadow. He's just… not like that.

"Are you ok?"

"Wha? Oh yeah. I'm... ok I guess. Oh, your Emerald."

I throw it to him from the floor. He catches it, and offers a hand. I take it and he helps me up.

"Are you sure your ok? You look pale and... you're shaking?"

I am. I'm shaking. I'm gonna break down again... no... not now...

"Tails?"

"Tails? You here?"

"Hey Sonic... In here, quickly!"

"Wha? Shadow?"

"She's shaking... she isn't right."

"Tails... Tails? Listen, sit down. Please."

I start walking towards the chair, shaking and wobbling but, Sonic's holding me up. I feel my legs give up. I thought he was holding me...

'''

Ha ha! Nice place to finish? No? Oh well! Review please!


	3. At the Hill Top

Teardrops and Bloodstains - Chapter 3

Hiya! Ready for another fun-filled chapter? No? Go on... you know you want to!

Sonic: This is just stupid!

Blood Wren: Say It!

Sonic: And what if I refuse?

Blood Wren: 'Takes out knife' SAY IT!

Sonic: Blood Wren does not own Sonic and Co. 'Gulp'

Blood Wren: Again! Faster! 'Waves Knife'

Sonic: BloodWrendoesnotownSonicandCo.! Ohmygodputtheknifeaway!

Blood Wren: Ok!

Heh heh... some fun!

Tenses - I'm CRAP! Past, present Future, What are they for?

'''

I feel the hard ground on my knees, I'm swaying. Distorted voices in my head.

"Tails? TAILS!"

'Thud'

An eye opens, then the other, all I can see is... black? Red? Black and Red? I close them again. What's black and red? Wait!

"Tails? Tails? Sonic, she just opened her eyes!"

Shadow...

"Tails? Are you still awake?

Sonic...

I open both of my eyes. Pain. I wince. What is it? I open my eyes again. Pain.

"Mmmmmmmm" Is all I can say. The pain came from my stomach... what was it?

"Chao! Chao!"

"Tw... Twin?"

"CHAO!"

"Whoa! Ahhh! Ouch! Get off!"

"CHAO!"

As my eyes focus, I see Twin chasing Shadow around the room, with... with her mini frying pan?

"Twin... stop..."

"Chaaooooo"

"Please..."

The small Chao floats off, looking disappointed.

"Why did... she attack...you?

"She's been guarding you since you fell, and hitting me and Sonic if we got to near."

"That sounds very Twinish... Where's So...aahhh!..."

"Tails?"

The pain, why? I can feel myself slipping out of consciousness.

"Tails don't go..."

He is leaning right over me now, trying to stop me from... sleeping?

"Stay awake!"

"...No..."

"Yes! You sleep, you die Tails! Stay AWAKE!"

Dying? Am I... that bad? I'm... I'm... Dying?

"Chao! CCCHHHAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOO!

" Twin... Help me! Or... she won't make it! Twin! Where are you going?"

"Chao..."

"What... my... my Chaos Emerald?"

"CHAO!"

"Tails... stay still… please..."

I can feel the smooth surface of the Emerald touch my fur.

_"You had me worried little buddy"_

Sonic...

All in one, my eyes snap wide open, my body jolts, and my fur stands on end. I knock Shadow over in alarm.

"What the?"

"Tails? Are you ok?" Said the dark hedgehog.

"I'm fine... no really I'm FINE!"

"Do you know what just happened?"

"I think I do... I was... you used the Emerald and..."

"Yeah... I really wasn't expecting it to work..."

_"It took me just a few hours to recover fully. Shadow left with the message 'I still want you to meet me'. I'd almost hoped that he had forgotten but, apparently not, but, I didn't dread it as much because he seemed… different."_

Sonic stayed over last night, and the night before. Super has been helping Cheese and Twin to do… err… whatever Chaos do, and Cream has gone out with Amy.

"So, you still gonna go and see Shadow today?"

"Yeah... he's done loads for me recently. I think I should..."

"I still mean what I said though... about not quite trusting him."

"I know. Listen, I'm gonna be late If I don't hurry, so I'll see you later ok?"

All I receive back is a low and toasty grunt.

"Cya then!"

"BE CAREFUL!"

I grab my jacket from the hook, and jump into the cockpit of the Tornado, and start the engine. I need to park it away from Hill Top... there's some sort of Anti-Aircraft Strike going on... nothing to do with me. So I land behind a large hill. Apparently, there was a storm last night here. Well that was proved by me. I climb out of the plane and onto the grass, walk about 20 yards, and fall right into a puddle. Not a normal-sized puddle, more like a small lake. I have to swim to the other side. As I swim, I notice footprints in the wet grass; no-one could not recognize them – Shadow's. I pull myself out from the lake and follow them towards the edge of the forest, where he's standing alone. He turns around to face me.

"I still don't trust this kind of place."

Come to think of it, neither do I.

"Me neither."

"Do you think we could move?"

"Yeah, where?

"Just... away... please."

He looks scared, but worse. I start to walk, and he follows.

"Are you ok?"

"Well, I will be."

"Oh... ok."

We walked from a few minutes, the stopped outside of the forest completely. So we sat down and talked, about everything but, he was dodging the subject I now knew I was there for, because he was dodging it.

"You know... no wait... Tails... I... hang on..."

_"I don't know how it happened, but it did. We... we kissed. Neither of us started it, and we didn't expect it... it just kinda... HAPPENED. After that, he kinda eased up, he wasn't as nervous. He could talk normally. It was strange, I never expected Shadow to be anymore that a friend, if that, when I first met him. He was cold, and dark. Back then, I was young, bubbly, I had none of the worries I have today, we just didn't fit together. But now, he's found friends and has really changed. And me, I've grown… darker? I know I've changed, but… why? I suppose with time everyone changes." _

We had been talking for hours, and I'm getting cold, and my jacket isn't helping much. I look up at the sun, to check the time. It was about 6 in the evening.

"Hmmm?"

Shadow had seen me looking at the sun.

"Do you want to start heading back now?"

"Well, if you don't mind. Sonic should be getting worried by now."

"I still think he's too over-protective of you…"

"I know but… would I still be here if he wasn't?"

"…"

"So, shall we head back? I can drop you off in the Tornado."

He nods. He looks cute in the dim light... What did I just think? I flatten my ears against my head. I'm going red? He won't notice in the light…

"You ok about going back into the forest?" he asks.

"Are you?"

He looks at me.

"I'll be ok… Trust me!"

"I wouldn't trust him if I where you Tails…"

We spin around.

"Eggman!"

"Well done Shadow, you've done well."

"What!"

I look at him, but he looks as shocked as I feel.

"There's a microchip, in your head, and it's can control your sub-conscious."

"But, it isn't, I didn't, WHAT?"

"Not yet… hahahahaha… HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

He's on a roll, eyes closed and streaming.

"Tails, get out of here. Now! While you've got the time."

I look into his deep red eyes.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"GO!"

And again, without warning, He collapses. I look in shock at Eggman, laughing.

"What have you done!"

"HAHaha… haha.. ha. Oh, just gave his brain a little shock. He ok, still conscious in fact. He's just fighting the pain… HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"You're crazy!"

I drop down beside him.

"Shadow… please be ok…"

"Tails?"

I look down into my jacket pocket. A small screen with Sonic's face on it, my mini-computer.

"Tails? Can you hear me?"

"Sonic! Please get here quickly! Eggman!"

And before I could finish the last word, he had gone.

"Shadow?"

His eyes are closed tightly and he's in a ball.

"Stop it! STOP IT!"

"Now why would I do that? HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

A rush of wind and a blue blur tells me that Sonic has arrived.

"Tails, You ok?"

"I'm fine, Eggman's got a remote… Shadow's… he's…"

Sonic nodded, apparently understanding what I was saying. He glanced at Eggman, finding the location of the remote, and just like that, he rushes up to Eggman, hitting him hard on the head.

"AAhhhhh! Gerrof me you blue… AHHHHHHH! No… give that back!"

He throws it to me.

"TAILS! WORK IT OUT!"

I fumble with the buttons. Which one? If I press the wrong one I could… kill him? And if I broke it, would it stop? Or make it permanent? I look around the controller, an off switch? I press it.

"Ngggg…"

"Shadow?"

"I'm… I'm ok."

"AHHHH! No! Err… I feel sick… dizzy…"

Eggman and Sonic where still fighting…

"Shadow? Are you ok?" Sonic half-shouts at him.

"Yeah"

"Get yourself and Tails outta here!"

"But… Sonic?"

I can't leave Sonic here on his own!

"Do it! I'll be fine!"

"Can you get up?"

Instead of a verbal answer, Shadow grabs my hand and breaks into a run, pulling me behind.

"Where did you park the Tornado?"

"Over the hill!"

As he's running, our gloves start to slip.

"Hold on!"

"I'm trying!"

I try to, but both gloves just come off, and all I see is Shadow rushing away.

"HAHAHAHAHA! DID YOU THINK I ONLY HAD ONE!"

Shadow turns around to get me, when he cries out in pain, and falls on the ground.

"No!"

Shadow is on the floor, curled up again, his ungloved hand in a fist.

"Shadow?"

I reach my his ungloved hand out to his one, only to recoil it in pain. What? I reach out again, same thing. But, every time I do this, he relaxes slightly. Was I… sharing his pain? I reach out again, this time, I'm not gonna let go. The pain runs through me like a hot knife through butter.

"Tails…. Stop it…"

"…"

"…please?"

I'm not gonna let go.

"Let…go!"

Not long after, the pain left just as it had come. Me and Shadow, both on the floor, panting.

"Tails... what did you… do?"

"I don't know."

"Oh god! Are you two ok?"

'''

Ok, writer's block alert! Please Review!

-Edited- Again… some minor spelling and grammar errors… and I made some more of it make sense! Peace out dudes!


	4. The Journey Back

Teardrops and Bloodstains - Chapter 4

Ok, I don't own anything on this Fanfic! Apart from Twin, Super and Dark! My little baby Chaos! AHHHHHHH! Oh, and the mini frying pan (not)!

Writers block cured!

'''

"Tails? Shadow?"

"I'm ok… but she…"

"What? What DID she do?"

"I don't know, she, absorbed half of the pain or something…"

"Tails?"

I open one bleary eye.

"Are you…ok?"

He's speaking slowly, which is good because I won't be able to understand otherwise.

"…no"

I'm lying, on the floor, I'm wet, cold and in pain. Do I sound _OK_? I can hear them, they're talking. Shadow's fine… but, why aren't I? Sonic bends down.

"Can you walk?"

"No"

"Stand?"

"No"

My fur is tinged crimson… I don't remember getting cut, or bleeding at all.

"I'm gonna have to carry you then."

He scoops me up in his arms. He seems almost, sedate? He's trying to act again. Putting a brave face on for me.

"Try to hold on."

I nod, as disagreeing with him like this would be stupid.

"Shadow, go ahead and alert Knuckles, I won't be as fast because I don't wanna hurt her any more. Are you ok?"

"Fine"

And with that, a small gust of wind signifies the departure of the black hedgehog.

"Close your eyes, try to sleep."

"Where's…Egg……"

"He's back there, knocked out. I told you to be careful"

He smiles down at me.

"You don't…… trust……Shadow do you?"

"I think I do now…"

His face went all serious.

"This wasn't his….fault."

The pain is creeping down my spine; soon I'm sure I'll be paralyzed.

"I know, please… sleep"

I can feel the wind picking up, he's running. I close my eyes and let myself drift.

I wake up to a sudden burst of pain in my side. Sonic's still running?

The sky's now littered with dark clouds, bulging with rain. I look down at his gloves, they're stained red with blood. Mine?

"Sonic?"

"Hmmm?"

"What's happening to me?"

"I…I don't… know… does it still hurt?"

I nod, all speech leaving me.

"We're nearly there…"

Am I… going to die? I can't feel anymore. My lungs have forgotten how to breathe. Everything's failing me. Due to my lack of being able to speak, I claw Sonic's chest instead.

"Hey! Tails… you're… not breathing?"

My eyes are scrunched up, if I could cry I would… What's happening? The rush of wind stopped.

"Knuckles! SHADOW! SHE'S NOT BREATHING!"

That's all I hear.

_"That's the third time this had happened, me being hurt. All within one conscious week. And they all had something to do with Shadow… A bad omen? How I was surviving, I don't know. Is it just a coincidence that Shadow was always there? Help me! Somebody! ANYBODY! I…I don't understand…was I…in love?"_

"TWIN STOP!"

"CHAO!"

"STOP!"

"CHAO!"

"CHEESE! SUPER! DARK! GET IT OFF!"

"Chao"

"Chao"

"Chao"

"I was just checking on Tails!"

I try to open my eyes. What? All I can see is colours? Red, and small specks of yellow, orange, black and a pale blue. Knuckles and the chaos?

"Shadow? Get Twin away from Tails?"

"Twin… come on, she's ok."

"Chao Chao!"

"Thanks"

I blink, Twin listens to Shadow? She barely listens to me.

"How is she?"

"She's been better, but she should be coming round soon."

"Really?"

"Yep! I suppose Twin is a bit like Sonic…"

"What? Over-protective of Tails?"

"Yeah, and she has a stubborn mind… meaning she would never give up, even…"

"…If she knew it was impossible?"

"Yeah!"

An uncomfortable silence, broken only by the squeaks of the chao.

"You changed Shadow… how come?"

"I don't know, is it really _that_ noticeable?"

"Shad…Shadow?"

"Tails?"

"Told you she'd be back soon!"

I am on the sofa, with Shadow kneeling by my side holding Twin.

"I'm, err…… Gonna go tell Sonic!"

And with that, Knuckles left, leaving me and Shadow almost alone, if you count the chaos.

"Are you ok? No, don't try to sit up, you'll hurt yourself."

"What did I do?"

"We're not sure."

"I didn't hurt you? Did I?"

"No… quite the opposite. Thank you."

He bows his head. Is he gonna cry? Shadow? The Ultimate Life Form… crying?

"You saved my life on three occasions now. I owe you big time!"

"No you don't."

"But I do… I…"

He's choking on his words. He's confused… at what? I look into his dark eyes… am I in love? Is he? No… I'm just… not… he couldn't be… not with me. He should like Rouge… I'm not his type.

_"I suppose I was scared. I'd never felt like this before, it was a totally alien feeling. When I was younger, even now, I'm always around Sonic and Knuckles. As a young girl, hanging around with older boys, I didn't really fit in, so I became a tomboy but, now that I'm older, I've found ways to fit in. That was my problem; I didn't know what to do, I **was** in love..."_

'''

Awwww… Sweet! Squeal!

Wow! On word, I've typed out 16 pages!

Chapter 1 - 4

Chapter 2 – 4

Chapter 3 – 5

Chapter 4 – 3

Review Please!

-Edited- Typos… AGAIN!


	5. Bed Bound

Teardrops and Bloodstains – Chapter 5

Shadow: This makes me look stupid…

Tails: No… It makes you look cute!

Shadow: Wha? Tails… When did you?

Blood Wren: OK, ENOUGH! ON WITH THE DISCLAIMER!

Shadow and Tails: We don't belong to Blood Wren!

Sonic: Me neither!

Blood Wren: Ok! I own no-one! Apart from the chaos! (Not Cheese)

Shadow: Can we go now?

Blood Wren: Yeah… 'Sniff'

Funny disclaimer makes you want to put nice reviews doesn't it? Hahahahaha! (There goes my sanity)

'''

"I'm sick of lying down…"

"Tails, you know you can't get up."

"But Sonic!"

"NO!"

Another 'Bed Rest' day. As if I had a choice. My limbs are getting better, but slowly, too slowly. Well, things aren't all bad. Me and Shadow have started going out… well, staying in at the moment. Only Cream and Knuckles know, we decided not to tell Sonic, cos he'd flip. Speaking of Knuckles, he's gone back to the Island and says things are going well.

"Sonic, you know I'll try to get up again when you leave the room!"

"Well, maybe I won't leave then!"

"God Sonic, you act like your 5!"

How childish, he pokes his tongue out at me.

"Twin! Whack him around the head with your frying pan!"

"CHAO!"

"AAhhhhhh! Knock it off! SUPER! HELP!"

Along comes Sonic's Chao, Super.

"What's all this noise?"

"Oh, hi Cream! Sonic's not letting me stand up, so Twin's whacking him!"

"Tails! TELL HER TO STOP!"

"…ok… Twin, stop hitting Sonic"

One of my few pick-me-ups around here, Chao fighting. Our chaos fight, but not that badly. If it gets to bad, we break them up. It's like small children play fighting. It's usually me and Shadow with Twin and Dark, and Sonic and Cream with Super and Cheese.

Today's Saturday, and I really wanna go and see Shadow, but I can't. My body is almost incapable of large movements, so I can't walk. He comes and sees me when he can, but he's still being attacked by Eggman every few days. According to Knuckles, what happened two weeks ago shouldn't have been so bad for me. He said that the cold didn't help, but otherwise he's as confused as I am. He's going through it all on his own… I should be able to help somehow but, I can't. He recovers better than be, it took him 2 days to recover from the snake bite, and it took 6 months for me. How much pain is he in though? I know he's used to being alone but… this has never happened.

"Still thinking about Shadow?"

The mass of blue spikes sat down by my feet.

"Yeah…"

"He'll be ok, you'll see."

"Where's Cream?"

"Oh, gone into the kitchen with Cheese and Amy to bake cookies or something."

"Isn't Knuckles coming down today?"

"Yeah… Apparently he's got an Emerald substitute, with just enough power to stop it from crashing."

"What kind of substitute?"

"I did ask, but he didn't tell me."

I put my head back onto my pillow.

"How much longer am I gonna have to be like this?"

"Tails?"

"You'd think it would be great, lying back, doing nothing. But, it isn't. It's…it's…"

I tried to cover my face so the Sonic couldn't see my tears, but he moved my arm.

"Tails."

I felt his weight move of the sofa, and he comes over and kneels beside me. I… I try to sit up, but collapse half-way through. The tears are running freely now. I try to turn away, but Sonic now has his hand on my shoulder, gently stopping me.

"Do you remember that time when Eggman caught me? And you saved me?"

I nod. Why is he reminding me?

"You where unable to move for ages… but you never gave up hope… you where always finding new things to do."

Is that what I've done? Given up hope? Why didn't I back then? I was younger, I thought you couldn't die until you get old… but now, I see it everywhere, death. On the Floating Island, and down here.

"Sonic? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to die?"

He doesn't look taken aback or anything, and it sounds like he's had the answer in his head for a long time.

"I do… and every time I go on a mission, I think: 'Are they gonna be alright without me', and when I'm with you, I'm always worried your not gonna make it, but you do… just."

"You… you think I'm not strong enough? You know, to cope with all of this?"

"No, but it's normal to worry about your family and friends."

"Thanks Sonic."

"What?"

"You've cheered me up!"

"Good! We can't have you moping about the place now, can we!"

"Nope!"

_"There we where acting as if we where kids again… Not knowing the pain and loneliness of Shadow, cowering on the floor. If I'd have known I'd have got up and run, I'd even crawl over to his house, but, I didn't know."_

"Hey, Sonic, Rouge's on the phone, she says it's urgent."

"Cya in a bit, little bud!"

And with a wink, he went around the corner. After a few seconds of muffled sounds:

"WHAT! Rouge… are you serious? You sure he's not out? You are? No, I can't tell her… look I can't, not now, she in a bad enough way without that! I'll go over and check it out. Ok? Thanks."

He walks past the door.

"Tails I gotta go check something out, I'll be back soon"

"Wh…" I start, but only to be met by the slamming of the door.

"Twin, could you follow him? What? You wanna take Super? Go on then, just don't get caught ok?"

I put my head down, unable to keep it up anymore. I hear the Chao-flap swinging and I know they've gone. I sink fully into the sofa. Where Shadow? Is that why Sonic's gone? I can feel it now, there's something wrong. Despite all of Sonic's advice, I start to move, I'm gonna have to try harder… as I stand, my legs give way and I land on the floor. Why? I know Shadow's in trouble, but can't I do anything? I grab the sofa arm, and heave myself up again, only to fall onto the sofa again.

'Knock'

"Hang on" Came a sweet little voice from down the corridor. I saw Cheese zooming towards the door.

"Chao!"

"What? It's open?"

"CHAO!"

"Thanks Cheese! Is Tails here?"

"Well, I can't exactly move can I?"

"I'll thank that as a yes then."

Around the corner came Knuckles, looking better than he did last time I saw him, and I didn't see him much, he'd kinda left me and Shadow alone.

"So, how are you feeling then?"

"I'm ok… do you know where Sonic went?"

"No, I've just seen him and he mumbled something… sounded like 'Eggman', why?"

"Oh… no reason."

"You think it's Shadow? Hasn't Eggman stopped it yet?"

"No, and he hasn't come round for ages, he said he didn't want to worry me, but now I'm more worried that I ever could be. I'm, scared Knux."

I think he's realized that I've only got him to turn to at the moment, Sonic's gone, and Shadow is... somewhere, the Chaos have gone, and Cream, Cheese and Amy are too busy cooking.

"Have you told Sonic about you and Shadow yet?"

"No... I don't want him to know..."

"But he'll find out!"

"I know! Do you think I don't?"

I'm back on the verge of tears, and arguing pointlessly with Knuckles...

"At the moment, I don't really care about anything apart from Shadow..."

"..."

"What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that I could carry you over to Shadow's house."

"What? No... Knuckles... I couldn't... I'd hurt you..."

"No you wouldn't, and I won't hurt you"

"But if Sonic..."

"If Sonic sees us, blame it on me, it _is_ my idea."

"Thanks Knuckles..."

"I'll go and tell Cream and Amy..."

"Ok"

They're right, Sonic WAS over-protective of me... I'd just got used to it.

"You ready?"

I nod... and Knuckles scoops me up into his arms.

"I'll try not to go to fast, but hold on to my jacket, just in case"

He gives me a swift smile, and opens the door with a push. The cold winter air blows through my fur, making me shiver slightly. This was the first fresh air I've had in weeks. He breaks into a run, making me grab his jacket to stay on.

"You ok?"

"Yeah"

He looks at me.

"I'm fine!"

We arrive not 5 minutes afterwards, Shadow lives on the top floor of a 6 story building. Knuckles carries me up the steps. As he climbs, I'm getting nervous. We get to the door of Shadow's flat, and open it... it's a mess, there's blood everywhere, smashed glass and the only light is coming from the TV, but it's just visual noise. Knuckles glances shiftily around, checking if it was safe.

"Shadow?"

"Knuckles? Shadow's down here, Eggman hasn't given up on him yet."

"The blood... who's?"

"Both... Eggman can now fully control him..."

"...No..."

"Tails!"

"Yeah, I carried her here."

"WHAT! After how she is?"

"I had to! She needs to see him Sonic! Have you not been paying attention to her?"

"STOP IT!"

Tears are in my eyes, rolling quickly down my face to join a small puddle of blood on the floor.

"Ngg..."

"Shadow?"

The dark figure rose from the floor, having to hold onto anything he can to stand.

"Shadow, do you know who I am?" Sonic said lightly.

"Yeah..."

"Good, your voice is normal again, do you know what happened?"

"Eggman tried to control me again?"

"Well, yes and no. He did try to control you, and... he did"

"What? I don't remember anything!"

"Shadow?"

His ears prick up at my voice. He slowly turns around, wincing at the obvious pain.

"Tails?"

Knuckles knows what to do... he lowers the arm holding up my legs and holds me steady, but I know he can feel me shaking, about to fall. Shadow walks up to me and catches me as I start to fall. I can't help it... I start to cry again. Why do I do this? I wrap my arms around his neck, while he holds my waist. I'm trembling, but I think it's a good thing. I can see through my tear-drenched eyes, the look on Sonic's face. He looks confused and shocked at the same time.

"Why didn't you come and see me?"

"I couldn't... I didn't want to hurt you so... I stayed away."

"You could have told me though... about Eggman controlling you now."

"This is a first... I'm sorry."

As those last words came out of his mouth, a faint glow starts to go all around him, then me.

"What's going on?"

"I... I don't know"

_"That's all I remember... Knuckles said we collapsed at the same time... Sonic went mad of course, at first blaming Shadow for doing it, then Knuckles for bring me there. Shadow was, of course, awake before me..."_

I woke up with a start; the room I'm in is pitch black. I'm covered in sweat... but, I can move my legs... What's happened...? Shadow? Where are you?

"Tails? You're awake?"

What!

"What? How can you tell?"

"I'm not called 'Shadow' for nothing... I can see in the dark better than you. Hang on." I can hear his footsteps, only lightly. 'Click' A small light flickers on, casting a dull glow around the room. He glances around a few times.

"We can't let Eggman see us now..."

"What happened?"

He walks over to me slowly, I can see the scars from the flat... almost fresh.

"He got into a bit of a rage, overtook Mobius..."

"WHAT!"

"Shhhhh! If he hears you, he'll kill you!"

"How can he hear me?"

"He's spent his "time off" rigging the place up with cameras, hidden mics... you know; the usual."

"Why did we, err, collapse?"

"My Emerald was protecting us."

"What? It knocked us out cold!"

"Yeah, but we were glowing until we woke up."

"Glowing?"

"It's like an energy field, nothing can hurt you, but people can pick you up... good thing really..."

"But why us... why then?"

"Well, then because that's when we where in danger as us... I hate this to sound mushy but, we think it's cos of the connection between us... that's what Knuckles said anyway."

"But... why does it heal me? The Emerald?

"Heal? Can you..."

"Move my legs, yeah I think so."

"My Emerald has some funny ways of hinting... heh heh. Come on... you need to sleep..."

"No... I've just woken up, why would I need to sleep?"

"Well, I've gotta go and check on the others, this kind of mayhem, the chaos don't like it, neither does Cream. Do you wanna come too then?"

"Yeah, but...will my legs cope?"

"Should do... come on."

I get up, wobble a bit, and fall onto him, my hands on his shoulders and my muzzle in his chest fur.

"Whoa! Tails? Are you alright?"

He put his hands on my lower back to support me. I start to blush, but he can't see me, in his fur. I look up at him, he's already looking down at me, blushing… freely? I start to look down in my embarrassment but one of his hands leaves my back and lightly pushes my chin up. Then, he kissed me again. I'm still new to all of this so I'm trying not to make a fool out of myself. After a while, we break up. I'm shaking again, but it isn't bad, I'm just nervous.

"Are you ok?"

He's speaking softly into my ear, making me shiver a little.

"Yeah"

"Shall we go up?"

"What? Oh... yeah."

He takes my hand a guides me along. My legs seem to be ok now... We walk through corridors and passages, he looks like he knows his way around though. After a while, we get to a door with one of those small, round glass, well, spy-holes. Shadow knocks the door, and an eye appears in the hole. After about a second, a large amount of locks and chains can be heard, followed by the creaking of the door. A worried looking, pink hedgehog pokes her head out of the gap, Amy.

"Quickly you two! Get in!"

We pass through the gap and into a brightly-lit room...

"CCCCHHHHHAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOO!"

Two young chaos came rushing towards us.

"You missed me?" I say to Twin, as she flies into me, almost knocking me over.

"Chao!"

I look over at Shadow, who has Dark sat in-between his quills.

"Heh heh... Chao!"

"Cream! If you can't control them? Who can?"

"I'm sorry Sonic, I don't know why they did that!"

"Hey Sonic! Don't blame it on her! I think they wanted to see us!"

"Shadow? Tails! You're walking!"

I nod as the blue hedgehog dashes over.

"How?"

"Chaos Emeralds are wonderful things..."

"Knuckles?"

"Yeah, we're all here, even the Chaotix and Big..."

_"Basically, the plan was to get the Chaos Emeralds back, because this was making Eggman more powerful. But first, they all had to recover from the battles just to get here. A chunk of Sonic's ear was missing, a large amount of fur was singed off of Big's coat, Knuckles had more cuts and bruises, and everyone else was just tired."_

Sonic still doesn't understand the whole 'Me and Shadow' thing. I think it's because he doesn't want to, it's like his brain doesn't register it. It's a lazy afternoon, the heat from the surrounding flats is keeping us warm in here and Me, Shadow and Cream are on the floor, with our chaos. My head is resting on Shadow's stomach, I can feel him breathing. It's making me sleepy. Dark and Twin are having some sort of staring contest... and the loser gets hit... by Twin's frying pan or Dark's fist. I hear the voice of Amy saying something about food and drink, so everyone rushes off apart from Me and Shadow. I feel a change in his breathing, it's quickened? I lift my head from his stomach and look at his face, no... Eggman may not be able to control him anymore, but he hasn't stopped shocking him.

"Knuckles!"

My voice is becoming panic-stricken. I can't shout too loudly, in case Eggman hears, but... Knuckles comes dashing in.

"Not again! Tails... Has he just started?"

I nod, now too scared to speak. Knuckles has always been the... the kind of doctor in the group, we've never known why.

"Damn... we're gonna have to let him take this one, I can't stop it..."

"What!"

"None of us are strong enough to help him, and no, only one person can help... I don't know why, but... that's just how it is."

I can hear Shadow cursing through his teeth...

"Can we... at least, move him? It's just his hands we can't touch, right?"

"Moving him could send the shock through his body... we can't. I'm gonna go and tell the others ok? Stay with him... but don't touch his hands... please?"

I nod, still terrified. My ears are starting to droop, and I can't look down at him, curled up in pain... I can't stand it! I'm too scared to cry. All I can do is sit and watch him in his own private hell, completely powerless to do anything...

_"It lasted about an hour after that. I stayed by his side all through it, whether he knew I was there or not didn't matter. When he finally regained consciousness, he wasn't making much sense. He just muttered something then fell asleep again. Knuckles came up to me at about one in the morning, and almost forced me to go to sleep..." _

I can't sleep... I'm trying so hard but I can't. What's that? Shadow's glowing?

I look down at my hands, I'm glowing too? Knuckles and Cream are sleeping in here too, but they're not glowing.

_"...glowing until we woke up..."_

But... I'm awake now. My ears prick up, a small flurry of wings? Twin? Sure enough, the small chao and Dark flew in... they're glowing too? I can't help it, I've gotta wake him up. I slip off of the sofa and onto the floor. How do I wake him?

"Chao!"

Dark was trying to lift his arm up.

"Dark! No!"

He sat up on a jolt, knocking Dark through the air. His ears flat on his head and his eyes wide.

"Wha!"

"Shadow! Shh... please. Are you ok?"

"Yeah...wait, you're glowing!"

"So are you and the chaos... shouldn't we..."

He covered my mouth with his hand.

"Don't wake them up. They're not in danger. I have to go... Alone Tails"

I push his hand away.

"Why alone?"

"Tails... Eggman can see me... the small chip in my head sees to that. And he's worked out that where ever I am, you are. He's not stupid, and he's not after Sonic, me, or even Amy this time... he's after you."

Twin sits on my lap, and I put my hands down to stroke her trying to avoid Shadow's gaze.

"I know..."

"I've gotta lead him away from here, away from you..."

_"I was fast. I still can't remember it all. But I can still see Eggman's face as he blew a hole into the side of the building. He was using his earliest machine; you know the one, with the orange and brown ball? He smashed it through the wall, waking them all up. I remember Sonic evacuating the flat, starting with Cream and Amy... Knuckles helped too... but me and Shadow couldn't move, we where paralyzed with fear, just sat there, like young rabbits in the road... just staring into the headlights of oncoming death"_

'''

Ok... 2:22 in the morning, I'm a bit tired, making my writing moody. I'm gonna start Chapter 6 now, and I've still got a day before I can post any of this up. Yeah... I signed up what... 2 days ago now... and I've written 5 Chapters? A new record for me. I can never get past the first paragraph. Yay! 7 and a half pages!

-Edited- Typos typos typos… I'm editing this from chapter 11 (not up yet) downwards… hmm… Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! I hate TYPOS!


	6. Back to Basics

Teardrops and Bloodstains – Chapter 6

If you're still reading this from chapter 1… THANK YOU! You may have noticed I've changed tenses and moods… I'm like that. Anyway, another disclaimer…

Big: Froggy?

Knuckles: Froggy's not here Big…

Big: FROGGY!

Knuckles: 'Sigh' I'll do it then?

Big: FROGGY, FROGGY, FROGGY!

Knuckles: None of the characters in this piece of fiction belong to Blood Wren, but to their respective owners, apart from Dark, Twin and Super the Chaos, who DO belong to Blood Wren.

Blood Wren: Thanks Knux! That's the best one yet!

Knuckles: …Can I go now?

Blood Wren: Awwww… ok then…

Knuckles: Come on Big… let's go and find Froggy…

Big: FROGGY!

'''

"_All I could feel was Sonic pulling me away; I was too scared to move. The evil look on Eggman's face as he smashed the building to pieces, how did he know where we were?"_

"TAILS! COME ON!"

I can't move, icy fear rushing down my spine, rooting me on the spot.

"TAILS! PLEASE!"

No matter how much I want to move, I can't.

"SHADOW! GET HER OUT OFF HERE!"

I can hear Sonic running off, probably going to help Knuckles evacuate.

"Tails… I know you're scared… please, move."

I feel Shadow's hands around my shoulders. It's all I need, so I slowly get up. Shadow grabs my hand and starts sprinting through the open door. I can see everyone downstairs, even the chaos.

"READY OR NOT… HERE I COME!"

Eggman has broken through the wall behind us, the force of the impact throwing us over the banister. Shadow's still got my hand, and with his free one, grabs the edge of the floor. The drop is too big to even think of jumping, we're on the top floor of one of the biggest buildings in the city. Then, something strange happens; Eggman actually climbs out of his machine and walks over to where we're hanging.

"Hahahaha! Look at this! I would kick you off Shadow, but I've got a better idea!"

"NO!" I hear Sonic and Knuckles shouting simultaneously from below.

"IT'S HIS OWN FAULT! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

And with that, he presses the button to shock Shadow.

"AHHHH!"

"HAHAHAHA!"

What? He's still holding on?

"WHAT?"

"It's……gonna have……… to be stronger…………….than that!"

"Pah! Pathetic hedgehog!"

So he kicks us off… It takes me a split second to know what to do… spinning my twin appendages, I stop in mid-air, but Shadow is above me, and his weight makes me falter. I can't keep us falling slow enough! I haven't carried anyone for about a year so, I can't take the strain… and now…we're… we're gonna die.

"WHAT! HE'S OVERRIDED THE SHOCK?"

And as he says that, I feel Shadow's grip loosen slightly. We've gone halfway down the building, but Shadow seems to be thinking… fast.

"Tails, stop flying!"

"WHAT? Are you crazy?"

"DO IT!"

So, I stop spinning my tails, so we're falling twice as fast.

"Hold onto my shoulders!"

So I obey him, holding onto his shoulders. Between us appears his Chaos Emerald. He grabs me around my middle and with the other hand, he grabs the Emerald.

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

Everything goes dark, and I can feel my feet lightly touching solid ground. I can hear screaming inside my head, and, judging by his face, so can Shadow. As soon as it had come, the darkness faded and we are on the ground floor.

"Are… you 'Pant' ok?"

"Yeah…'Pant'"

Even though I say I'm fine, I have to lean on him, just to keep standing.

"Tails! Shadow! Are you ok?"

Knuckles and Sonic run up to us. We nod, but now I can tell Shadow isn't alright either. Chaos control must have taken a lot of energy from him, and he had just been shocked too…

"Ha-ha! They're both lying! The traitors!"

"What!"

Eggman is back in his ship, but he's ditched the ball, and now has a claw attached.

"Hmmm? Don't you know? The chip in Shadow's head leads me straight to him… and Tails asked him to stay, regardless… am I right? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"WHAT? Is that true Tails?"

"Hey! Don't blame it on her!"

"Shut up faker!"

I can see Shadow's eye twitch with annoyance. Sonic runs up to him and punches him full-on in the face, sending him flying into the wall behind.

"Shadow!"

"SONIC! Calm down!"

Knuckles ran up behind Sonic and grabbed his arms to stop him from hitting Shadow again.

"It's what he deserves!"

"It's what Eggman wants! He's trying to break us up!"

"Shadow? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, it's just a little bit of blood."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You'd better listen to your red friend more Sonic! He's right you know! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"What! Knuckles! Let go!"

Knuckles lets go, but is poised to grab him again. I hear Cream's sobs and Cheese is patting her on the head.

"He's… trying to break us up?"

"Don't you see it Sonic? He's trying to manipulate our thoughts like he did to Shadow, just not using a microchip!"

I shake as I say this, worried the Sonic's gonna lash out at me too.

"Tails?"

"We're stronger together! Even if some are stronger than others! But even if the stronger ones are on their own, they're vulnerable! He's trying to make us all hate you and Shadow!"

"WHAT? HOW DO YOU KNOW MY PLAN!"

"Cos geniuses think alike!"

This outburst from Amy has us all stunned, even apparently, Amy herself. In normal circumstances, I would have blushed at the complement but, this isn't normal. In his rage, without warning, Eggman zooms out of a glass window, causing the glass inside shatter and fall over us. Everyone dashes to find shelter, but I have to drag Shadow because he's getting dizzy through his loss of blood, which is getting worse. I pull him under the stairs, putting his head on my lap to tilt his head and help with the flow.

"Stay still!"

"Why? Ith's not dat bad!"

"Well why are you speaking like that then?"

"Like wat?"

"Never mind"

I'm finding it hard not to laugh. It is rather funny…

"Tails? Where did you go?"

"Under the stairs!"

Sonic pokes his head around the corner, his hand nervously scratching behind his ear.

"Err, Shadow… You ok?"

"Yeah"

"Heh, sorry about that…"

"Ith's ok, I've 'ad worsth"

Sonic is apparently fighting the urge to burst out laughing as well. I give him a warning look.

"I'm gonna go check on Cream and the chaos. Are you two sure you're ok?"

I nod, dismissing him.

"_Everyone was ok, if a little shaken. Shadow's nose wasn't broken, but Sonic didn't forgive him completely. He still didn't trust him. But at that time, I couldn't really care less. We were on the run from the ruler of the planet, and there was a huge reward on each one of our heads, even the chaos. Finding people to help us was hard, seeing as they thought if they were found hiding us, they'd be killed, which Eggman wouldn't do because it would be a useless waste of his time and resources. There were a few people who didn't have anything to lose, so they helped us. We eventually found our old base in Emerald Hill Zone, and the mainframe was still intact, the old "Kintobor Computer"#, which me and Knuckles spent a few day sorting out. It managed to find the old files for the security system in the base, making us invisible to Eggman, even Shadow's Microchip. There was nothing else we could do with it anymore, otherwise we'd be detected. So we went lower into the underground bit of the base."_

"This place looks like it's been empty for years!"

"It has! I'm amazed Kintobor# was still intact!"

Me and Shadow are walking through the tunnels that Knuckles had dug for us all those years ago. Bats have infested the lower caves, they'd have to be moved if this was long-term.

Since we've been on the run, Shadow and I have become closer, if that is possible. Sonic and Amy have too, it's strange.

"Are you ok? You've gone all quiet."

"Wha? Oh, I'm fine. It's just all of the memories flooding back. Like, I remember Knuckles collapsing with exhaustion. He dug all of this by hand!"

"Wow…"

I look up into his eyes, he's thinking again. They seem almost purple in this light.

"Can I feel a breeze… or is it just me?"

I look away and try and feel it… there is? But… this tunnel doesn't come out anywhere… does it?

"Yeah, I can feel it to…"

The flames in the brackets started to flicker. Shadow grabs my hand, not hard, but firmly.

"Stay close…"

I'm not gonna disagree, so I tighten my grip on his hand and move closer. I can feel his body tensing; he's trying to feel something… I feel the wind pick up more, so I get closer. With Shadow I feel safe, even though I'm always with him when things happen to me… I'm confused about that still. All of the flames suddenly blow out, as a gust of wind almost whips me off the floor. The air is freezing, and I'm starting to wish we'd turned back. I can't see, but I know he can:

_"Tails? You're awake?"_

_"What? How can you tell?"_

_"I'm not called 'Shadow' for nothing... I can see in the dark better than you. Hang on."_

"Do you want to go back?"

"Yeah… this is giving me the creeps, and I can't see… We should tell someone."

"Not Sonic?"

"No, not Sonic… Knuckles, he dug this tunnel, he should know where it goes."

"He still doesn't trust me, does he? Sonic I mean."

"…"

"Tails?"

"…No"

"Come on, we'd better get back, I'm getting cold."

So, with Shadow guiding, we start heading back, but I'm stumbling over rocks and bumps in the ground. Shadow seems to think it's quite funny.

"Hey! It isn't funny!"

"Well you can't see it can you!"

And he bursts out laughing again.

"Humph! Meany! Ahhh!"

"Whoa! Are you ok?"

I have just fallen over what felt like a large rock, and I'm now on the floor, clutching my ankle. I can feel him bending down to take a look.

"Ah, I think you might have broken it."

"What?"

"Can you move walk?"

I try to, but I can't.

"No"

"Can you put any weight on it?"

"No"

"This sound familiar doesn't it?"

"What?"

"Don't you remember?"

_"Are you…ok?"_

_"…no"_

_"Can you walk?"_

_"No"_

_"Stand?"_

_"No"_

"Oh yeah, Hill Top…"

The memory comes back in one. I lower my head, they're still painful… most of them.

"Yeah, come on, you'll freeze down there."

He picks me up. Now this is too familiar, being carried. First Sonic, the Knuckle, now Shadow… They'll get annoyed though, fed up. I'm becoming dependant on them again…

"God you're light Tails…"

"I… am?"

"Yeah, do you have hollow bones?"

"No… what makes you say that?"

"Well birds have hollow bones or something like that, I was thinking because of your ability to fly, your body might have had to cut down on stuff like that."

"Maybe…"

We walked on a while, I don't remember it being this far before…

"WHO'S THERE?"

The voice came from in front of us. Shadow stopped walking.

"Sonic?"

"Oh… just you then? Where's Tails?"

"Here…"

"Oh, why's it gone so dark down here?"

"A wind blew all of the torches out."

"Wind?"

"Don't ask us, we don't know…"

"Hmmm…"

And after that, I hear the quick footsteps indicating the departure of Sonic.

"He really doesn't trust me"

"Don't take it the wrong way; he used to be like that with Knuckles."

'''

Wow… a STC reference. It was bound to happen… REVIEW PLEASE!

#Kintobor – Robotnik (Eggman's REAL name is Dr. Robotnik to all you newer Sonic fans!) spelt backwards. For more info, check the STC's (Sonic the comic) version of Sonic's origins. (STC is no longer being published, so you might have to find it online.)

Word pages Update!

1 – 4

2 – 4

3 – 5

4 – 3

5 – 7 and a half

6 – 5

28 and a half pages!


	7. Together?

Teardrops and Bloodstains. – Chapter 7

Hello again! Don't get confused with this one, it's Shadow speaking, not Tails at first. I thought a small recap would be good, from Shadow's point of view.

Cream: Hello people of the world!

Cheese: Chao chao!

Cream: 'Giggle' None of the characters in the Fan-Fiction belong to Blood Wren! Apart from Dark, Twin and Super the chaos!

Cheese: CHAO! CHAO!

'''

**Shadow:**

_**"I don't know what's going on in my head… I'm confused.**_

"Shadow? Can you hear me?"

"Ngg…"

"Can you stand? Shadow? Don't go to sleep… please!"

"Y…yeah."

"Can you walk?"

"SONIC! KNUCKLES! HELP!"

_**Why is she helping me? I don't get it…**_

"Shadow..."

"Don't move... please don't move"

"Why... why do I feel like this?"

"Eggman took your Emerald, but I've got it now... hold still."

_**Again… why?**_

"Shadow?"

_I could feel her, trying to get through. She grabbed my ungloved hand, and she, she shared my pain._

"Tails…. Stop it…"

"…"

"…please?"

"Let…go!"

_She didn't… It stopped on its own._

"Tails... what did you… do?"

"I don't know."

_**She was sacrificing herself to help me? What am I feeling?**_

"Shadow?"

"Knuckles? Shadow's down here, Eggman hasn't given up on him yet."

"The blood... who's?"

"Both... Eggman can now fully control him..."

"...No..."

_Tails?_

"Tails!"

"Yeah, I carried her here."

"WHAT! After how she is?"

"I had to! She needs to see him Sonic! Have you not been paying attention to her?"

_She… needs to see me?_

"STOP IT!"

"Ngg..."

"Shadow?"

"Shadow, do you know who I am?"

_**That's what Sonic had said**._

"Yeah..."

"Good, your voice is normal again, do you know what happened?"

"Eggman tried to control me again?"

"Well, yes and no. He did try to control you, and... he did"

_What! No… this wasn't happening!_

"What? I don't remember anything!"

"Shadow?"

_My ears involuntarily prick up at her voice._

"Tails?"

_Knuckles let her down, she was weak, and she fell on me, but she had made the effort to get herself here, she was worried?_

"Why didn't you come and see me?"

"I couldn't... I didn't want to hurt you so... I stayed away."

_**I was confused, but it was… the truth.**_

"You could have told me though... about Eggman controlling you now."

_**I can still feel the pit of guilt in my stomach…**_

"This is a first... I'm sorry."

_**And then the Emerald did what it did.**_

"What's going on?"

"I... I don't know"

_**Was I… feeling proper… love?**_

"My Emerald was protecting us."

"What? It knocked us out cold!"

"Yeah, but we were glowing until we woke up."

_**As soon as I woke up, I stayed with her, my brain was swimming. I'd never felt like this before, and I know we where going out but… I've been out with other people and, I've never felt like this towards any of them. Tails was… different.**_

"Well, I've gotta go and check on the others, this kind of mayhem, the chaos don't like it, neither does Cream. Do you wanna come too then?"

"Yeah, but...will my legs cope?"

"Should do... come on."

_She stood up, wobbled a bit, and fell onto me, her hands on my shoulders and her muzzle on my chest._

"Whoa! Tails? Are you alright?"

_I had put my hands on her back to keep her steady. She looked up at me, I was blushing… I took one of my hands off her back and lightly pushed up her chin. Then, I kissed her again. After a while, we broke up. She was shaking, again._

"Are you ok?"

_I spoke softly into her ear, making her shiver a little._

"Yeah"

"Shall we go up?"

"What? Oh... yeah."

_**I loved her, and… I think she loved me back. This is unusual for me, I'm not like this.**_

**_I don't think I've cared some much about something in my whole life._**

_I had put my hand to her mouth, or we'd be heard._

"Don't wake them up. They're not in danger. I have to go... Alone Tails"

_She pushes my hand away._

"Why alone?"

"Tails... Eggman can see me... the small chip in my head sees to that. And he's worked out that where ever I am, you are. He's not stupid, and he's not after Sonic, me, or even Amy this time... he's after you."

_Twin sits on her lap, and she tries to avoid my gaze._

"I know..."

"I've gotta lead him away from here, away from you..."

_**She said she felt ok, but she seemed… scared. I'm sure she's ok with us being this way. She's used to Sonic and Amy… and she's always around us boys so… wait, does she know… has she ever been with anyone before? Is that why she's scared? I've been so stupid! Of course!"**_

**Tails:**

**_"I don't think he's realized how scared I am… I never know what to do. Sonic keeps telling me not to trust him, that he says he doesn't really care about me. He's lying, he doesn't understand, he doesn't know what Shadow's _really_ like!" _**

Even if I tried, I wouldn't be able to sleep. My pillow is still damp from my tears. What Sonic said was… it was horrible. And now Shadow's gone! All because of … I'm never gonna forgive him, never. He started an argument with Shadow, blaming him for everything that's happened recently, the whole 'Eggman finding us' thing. He didn't know he was putting us in danger, and we got out ok, didn't we? We're safer now than we were. When Shadow left, he told Knuckles to look after me… I might never know why.

"Tails?"

"Go away, Sonic"

"Tails, I've said I'm sorry!"

"Yeah… so what? That's not going to bring him back is it?"

"You make it sound like he's dead!"

"Oh, I bet your crossing your fingers for that! But he's been gone for weeks!"

"What! You know I'm only thinking of you! I didn't want him to hurt you!"

"He's never hurt me! NEVER! YOU KNOW THAT!"

"Don't shout…"

"Never! He's never hurt me!"

Fresh tears are making their way down my face.

"But, whenever you're with him, something happens to you! You can't deny that surly!"

"I know!"

"Chaaaooooooo!"

"Hmm…"

"Dark? He… he left you here? All this time?"

"Chao…hao…"

"No, he took him with…"

"Dark? Where's Shadow?"

"Chao!"

"Dark! Wait, I can't run!"

I have to take to the air, my ankle was, as Shadow had said, broken.

"Don't go!"

"Sonic, he could be hurt!"

"But…"

"I DON'T CARE!"

And I race around the corner.

"Tails, I'm coming too!"

Cream seemed to have heard the whole conversation between me and Sonic.

"No, Cream it's too dangerous!"

"But I've got Cheese with me!"

"…"

"Please?"

"Ok… but be careful, and if I tell you to run, you will do it?"

The young rabbit nods.

So we speed after Dark, out of the base and into the forest.

"Tails, I'm scared… what if Shadow's not ok?"

Then it hits me. Shadow is scared… actually scared of forests, ever since the beach party. He wouldn't come in here, unless he was desperate.

"Chaooooo!"

"…….Dark?"

"Shadow?"

I fly over the bush that Dark is now zooming through. Shadow's lying on his back, with his hands behind his head.

"Are you ok?" he asks

"I was about to ask you the same thing! But… I'm ok. You don't mind if Cream's here?"

"No… not at all. Sit down, please, you're making me feel uneasy."

"CREAM! WHERE ARE YOU?"

"Oh no! Amy must have heard me leaving!"

"What? You didn't tell her?"

"No, she'd tell me not to go. I'd better lead her away..."

"Thanks Cream..."

"No worries! AMY, AMY I'M OVER HERE!"

And she dashes into the path, and we hear her footsteps fade.

"Why did you leave?"

He looks a bit stunned at my sudden question.

"Sonic was right, I am dangerous, to everyone..."

"Sonic ISN'T right, he wrong... it's not your fault!"

"It is! If I didn't collapse at the party, you wouldn't have been attacked! If I wasn't as stupid, you wouldn't have had to come and help me when Eggman stole my Emerald!"

"Shadow! Stop it! It's not your fault! At the party, I was going to the forest alone! It would have got me anyway!"

"But..."

"But if you hadn't come and found me, Sonic wouldn't have been there to get me to hospital, I would have died!"

"Tails?"

"Why did you send Dark to get me?"

"I need to see how you are... I've missed you."

"Shadow, you've changed since I first met you."

"I know"

"Come back... please?

He looks into my eyes. His eyes have changed too, not permanently in a frown, they've relaxed, making his face kinder altogether.

"Tomorrow..."

"Why not tonight?"

"I heard you arguing with Sonic, I think I should let him calm down again before I come back."

"...Ok..."

I can feel my tiredness creeping up on me again, making me close my eyes and yawn.

"Sorry, I haven't been sleeping well. But I don't want to go back tonight... not with Sonic like he is."

"Well, stay here, sleep. I'll keep watch."

"No, I couldn't."

"Yes you could. Go on..."

"I'm not gonna win am I?"

"Nope."

"Ok then... later though, I'm not that tired yet."

I stand up, forgetting about my ankle and try to walk onto the path Cream left on. I limp past Shadow, but falter when I get to the bush between us and the path. I step back with my good foot, and try to steady myself. I fall, but Shadow is already standing behind me, ready to catch me.

"Where were you trying to go?"

"Just checking to see if Amy's found Cream."

He sits me back down and goes to check for me. He really is cute in the dim light. And now, I'm not embarrassed to think it. I'm easing up a bit... being more relaxed around him. He drags his head back through the hedge.

"She's gone, her light is back on in the base."

I sigh.

"Thanks"

"You should keep off that ankle, try not to make it worse, ok?"

"Yeah..."

My ears turn and flatten on my head as I look down, with my eyes closed. I feel Shadow sitting beside me.

"What up?"

"Nothing."

I don't look up. His hands hold onto my shoulders and he gently turns me around. I open my eyes and lift my head.

"Nothing." I repeat, and my ears flip black to normal.

His hands slip off my shoulders and down my arms, making me shiver, and eventually holds my hands.

'BANG!'

The noise makes me jump, so much that I almost fall backwards. Shadow stands up, helping me up at the same time.

"EGGMAN!" HOW DID YOU FIND US?"

"I've had this building rigged with life-sign cameras! Do you think I'd be as stupid as to leave your old base alone? When I knew you'd come back! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Tails, stay here, stay low and out of sight."

"No"

He turns to look at me.

"AAAHHHHHH!"

"Sonic! Shadow, I'm going whether you like it or not!"

"But you can't walk!"

"I can fly!"

"But you'll get tire.."

"LET'S JUST GO!"

Before he can argue, I take to the air, and fly over the bush. As soon as I can see the base... it's... it's in flames? No... Cream! Knuckles! EVERYONE! Did they get out? I try to fly towards it but... I'm getting sleepy... no... I'm falling...

"Tails? TAILS! Don't sleep now! What? Gas? No!"

I feel a soft thud behind me.

"Tails... don't slee..."

Then, everything went black.

'''

Yay! Another weird ending! Review please!


	8. Inside

Teardrops and Bloodstains - Chapter 8

Sorry, there's swearing in this one… only a bit (Actually, there's quite a bit, but it's mild).

Ok, disclaimer…

Blood Wren: I, Blood Wren, own none of the characters within this piece of Fiction, apart from the chaos called: Dark, Super and Twin. Thankyou for your time... WWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I'm all alone! They've all gone home!

'''

Where am I? A solid, cold wall is holding me up, the floor is equally cold. Shadow! My eyes snap open. He's on the other side of the room, slumped in a corner, unconscious.

"Shadow, wake up."

"..."

"Wake up!"

"..."

"Shadow! Please!"

I can see his breath evaporating, and his hand reaches up.

"Ohhh... my head!"

"Where are we?"

"You're ok, right?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Uh huh. It's cold in here, jeez!"

He looks ill, and tired.

"Where are the others?"

"I don't know, I've just woken up myself. I hope they're ok..."

"Oh, they're ok! In fact, they're in cells just like yours; I suppose they'll come round soon enough! Hahahahahaha!"

"Eggman!"

"Relax, or I'll turn down the temperature!"

"_We had to wait for hours before we were taken out of our cells. The new cells weren't so bad, the floor was soft and we could see each other through thick metal bars. But they where electrified, so there was only one wall we could lean on. Me and Shadow are in one cell, Amy and Sonic in another, and Mighty and Espio, and Vector and Charmy, and Knuckles with Cream, and Big and Rogue. All of the chaos were in their own cell, huddled up together."_

"I wanna go home now… I want my mom!"

"I know Cream… I know."

Knuckles is trying to comfort the young rabbit, but she's still crying.

"Sonic! Stop! You'll hurt yourself!"

"Amy! I've gotta keep trying!"

"Spin attacking the bars is useless! You just bounce right off again!"

"Grrr…"

I see him moodily sit on the floor, head in his hands.

"I'm hungry!"

"Yes Big, you've told me!"

"I want one of them thingies Sonic eats…"

"Well, Eggman probably doesn't have any spare chilli dogs around."

"Awwww…"

Rogue's looking tired, we all are, but her ears have drooped, and she's wearing no make-up.

"Whoop-de-de-pop!"

"CHARMY! SHUT UP!"

All of the Chaotix crew shout this in unison.

"Awwww, come on guys! I'm bored-diddle-ored!"

"Shut up or I'll eat you whole!"

Vector's looking ill, his scales are loose, and his eyes are puffy, well, he is sharing a cell with the most annoying bee in existence…

Mighty appears to be trying making a hole in the wall through repetitive punching, and Espio's turned a pale pink.

Shadow's on the floor, on his back, sleeping. And I'm trying to help Knuckles with Cream.

"CHAO!"

Cheese's small screams can be heard from the cell hanging from the ceiling.

"…And I wanna see Cheese!"

"Could someone shut that bloody rabbit up!"

"Rogue! Don't make her worse!"

"Shut it knuckle head!"

"Grrrrrrrr…"

"Knuckles, cool it…"

"Shadow? I thought you where asleep!"

"Well, it's hard to sleep with you lot bickering like kids! Now calm down, or Eggman will get what he wants."

"What?"

"…"

"You know, pulling us all apart?"

"Oh… yeah."

Cream's sobs die down a bit.

"Is your ankle ok Tails?"

"Well, it's not getting worse!"

"Good!"

That's better.

"ATTENTION ALL OUTLAWS! YOU WILL BE LET OUT OF YOUR CELLS TO EAT IN EXACTLY 5 MINUTES!"

"What? We're let out of our cells to eat?"

"Eggman must have this security thing sorted out then…"

I glance over to the cell to the right, Mighty has stopped punching the wall, and Espio's purple again.

"Food?"

"Yes Big, food…"

Cream flaps her ears, making her take off a bit.

"Yay!"

Shadow sits up, and is now stretching. And Sonic has stopped droning on. I'm talking to Cream up against the bars, we gotta be careful not to touch them.

"Are you gonna be ok now?"

"Yeah… I think. How long are we gonna be here for?"

"I don't know… lets hope not for long, ok?"

"Ok!"

As I turn to face Shadow, I feel cold metal touch my ear. Before I have time to move, an electric current runs through my body, forcing me onto the floor.

"What the hell!"

"Tails? Are you ok?"

I can feel everyone's eyes looking at me, cowering on the floor. I don't care.

"HEY EGGMAN, LIGHTEN THE CURRENT! YOU NEARLY KILLED HER!"

"Knuckles…don't"

I can feel my strength ebbing away.

"Shadow, is she ok?"

Sonic, I thought you hated Shadow…

"Shadow?"

"Yeah, she's ok."

His voice has changed.

"Shadow? Something wrong!"

"Of course something's wrong Sonic! Shadow's turning…"

"What!"

"SUPER!"

Sure enough, a faint glow was emitting from Shadow. I hear the doors of our cells slide open, and I can feel knuckles gloves on my arms.

"Shadow, calm down, this doesn't have to happen."

"He has no choice my red friend. What's left of his mind is soon to be destroyed!"

Eggman's voice boomed from the same speaker that told us about food…

"How do you mean?"

"His mind hasn't been right… not since Tails' hand…"

"Very good spikeball! It's not just her hand I've ruined!"

"WHAT!"

"I got bored of waiting around for you to rescue her, so I had a little experiment!"

"No!"

"When you gave me the emeralds, the experiment was complete! The energy flowed into her bloodstream, and is still there! It gave her chaos powers, Sonic; she just doesn't know how to use them! And while she has the power of the other emeralds, his emerald reacts! Making him turn super!"

"You BASTARD!"

The volume at which Sonic says this at hurts my ears.

"But why now? Why's it taken so long?"

"Ah, it takes time to absorb energy from another body!"

"But doesn't that mean that I'll turn super too?"

"VERY GOOD! HAHAHAHAHA!"

"Everyone get outta here!"

"Come on Tails, we've got to go!"

That's why his emerald cures me, that's why I can share his pain, chaos energy?

"Tails, I'm……………sorry! AHHHHHH!"

"No!"

A tear jerks out of my eye, involuntarily.

He flashes gold, but his red stripes remain.

"GEt OuttA HeRE! NOW!"

Both Shadow and Sonic are on the floor, glowing gold. Their skin is changing. Knuckles picks me up and sprints along the hallway, trying to find and exit.

"SO, SONIC… STILL DON'T TRUST ME?"

"NOT A BIT, FAKER!"

"YOU'LL REGRET THAT!"

"YEAH?"

'CRASH!'

"What was that noise?"

"I don't wanna know Tails. Is everyone ok?"

They're all here.

"I didn't know, about being… having chaos energy in me…"

"None of us did, I don't think Shadow knew what was going to happen either."

"It was so confusing, what Eggman said, it made no sense!"

I don't know what's happening, I'm feeling weaker… are they, making me feel like this?

"Why didn't I absorb energy from Shadow? I…don't get it."  
"Tails, I think you _are._"

"What?"

"You're glowing too; can you… have you ever turned super?"

"No…"

I can feel my fur standing on end; energy seems to be invisibly making its way into my body.

"Knuckles let go…"

He doesn't argue. I fall a bit, but don't touch the ground. I look up, rings of energy are wrapping around my body. My fur changes from orange to white and the tips of my tails and my chest hair turn black.

"Tails?"

"It's ok, I have control."

"Be careful…"

"I will, thankyou Knuckles."

I pass through the hallways and corridors, back to the cells. It's a strange feeling, being in the air but not spinning my tails. I reach the cells… oh no!

"WANNA DIE YET?"

"NO, I WAS HOPING YOU'D DIE FIRST ACTUALLY!"

Sonic is holding Shadow up against the electric bars, by his neck.

"OH LOOK AT THAT! FOXY'S COME TO CHECK ON HER BOYFRIEND! SHAME HE'LL BE DEAD IN A MINUTE!"

"Sonic! STOP IT!"

My body is doing its own thing, my arm is raising.

"WHAT YOU GONNA DO? SCARE ME TO DEATH?"

"NO, I don'T KnOw WHaT I'M doiNG!"

"PATHETIC!"

A red sphere of energy appears in my hand.

"WHAT?"

"LET HIM GO!"

I've regain full control, and I'm not gonna back down. All I have to do is move my fingers and…

"OK, I'LL LET GO!"

Sonic does let go, but kicks Shadow in the stomach, making blood come out of his mouth.

"BUT I NEVER SAID I WOULDN'T KILL HIM! OR YOU…"

He floats lightly towards me, and moves my arm just by looking at it.

"Now now Tails, you woulDN'T want to hurt me, I'm your FriENd!"

"No you're not; you're not the _real_ Sonic!"

"What! That pathetic CREatuRE!"

He puts his hand on my shoulders, and pushes me back into the wall.

"Now, death could be painless, I wouldn't know, I've never died."

"Get off me!"

Cuts and slashes are appearing on my arms and legs, but he's only holding my shoulders. I can feel the skin on my back splitting.

"Don'T STruGgle; you'LL OnlY MaKE THINGS wOrSE!"

"I'D NEVER………………….THINK…………. YOU'D EVER………………..STOOP THIS LOW SONIC… HEH… HEH……"

"YOU, YOU'RE STILL ALIVE!"

"OH YES… VERY ALIVE IN FACT! LET HER GO."

"WHY, I'VE ALWAYS WANTED A PET!"

A… pet? I move my hands in front of his stomach. Tears are now streaming down my white face, through both pain and anger.

"I don't want to do this Sonic…"

"DON'T THEN! IT'S AS SIMPLE AS THAT!"

A purple orb appears in my hand this time.

"NO!"

"Yes…"

I tweak my fingers, sending Sonic blasting backwards, and through the wall. He's on the floor outside, back to blue, but bleeding heavily.

"No…. what have I done?"

I can feel my chaos form fading.

"Sonic! Can you hear me? Oh. Please don't be dead!"

He's breathing, but it's laboured.

"wow tails, you………can really pa…….pack a punch!"

"Don't talk… I'm so sorry!"

"Thankyou………….for…….stopping……………..me from……. Killing………………………………………..you."

"Don't Sonic! Don't die!"

"Tails… use your powers to help him!"

"But I don't now how to use them!"

I can hear him stumbling behind me, tripping and falling over.

"Shadow, I don't know what to do!"

His hands clasp around my shoulders, I'm shaking worse than ever. I can feel warmth flowing down my arms, and my hands heat up violently. A small flame flickers into life, then transforms into a small ball, which leaves my hands and hovers over Sonic's limp figure.

"Huh?"

One eye opens slightly, winces, and then opens again with the other one. The ball separates into three smaller balls that move onto all of Sonic's wounds. The wounds start to close. Shadow's hands are heating up on my shoulders, but he's shaking…

The balls have completed their work, and disappear.

"Ahh!"

"Shadow?"

His hands leave my shoulders, and he collapses on the floor.

"What's going on out here?"

"Knuckles! Help me!"

I have to explain all that's happened.

"And what, he just collapsed?"

"Yeah."

I'm starting to feel very dizzy. I know I'm bleeding, but… how much?

'''

Ok… In an hour and 10 minutes, and then I can finally post this up! Yeah! I don't think I'll do anymore until I get a few reviews so… REVIEW PLEASE!


	9. Chaos Escape

Teardrops and Bloodstains – Chapter 9

Hey, is anything wrong with chapter 6? It's the least-visited one of the lot… hmm…

(There is a bit if swearing in this one…)

Amy: Yo! What's up!

Sonic: Get on with it Amy!

Amy: Don't you take that tone with me mister!

Sonic: I'll do it… Blood Wren owns none of the characters within this piece of fiction, apart from the chaos called: Dark, Super and Twin.

Amy: 'Pouts' Ohhhhh…. I wanted to do it!

Blood Wren: Do it next time…

--------- (Better than the old separator? No?)

"Hello? Tails, don't go to sleep on me now, I've already got 2 dead weights here, I don't need another."

"Sorry Knuckles… I'm just a bit dizzy."

"Do you want me to bandage that leg up? You've cut it pretty badly."

"Would you?"

"Of course!"

Everyone is filing out of the hole that Sonic made in the wall. Alarm bells are going off and soon Guard Robos will come to find us. Knuckles tied a knot in the bandage.

"Hey, Mighty, or Espio, one of you. Could you carry Sonic? Yeah, I'll carry Shadow. Tails, you're sure you're ok to walk?"

"Yeah, my ankle doesn't seem to hurt much anymore."

We start to walk quickly across the grass, towards the setting sun, because it's the only way we can go. Guard Robos start coming at us from all directions, blocking off all of out exit points.

"Shit! Where totally surrounded"

"Yes, thank you Mighty, where would we be without your running commentary?"

"Great, I can't fight while holding Shadow… grr…"

"Why don't you and Espio run for it, Sonic and Shadow need to get out of here, and if you can get them somewhere safe, come back to help."

"Yeah, but first we need to get out."

"Well we know how to get out, don't we? SMASH THEIR HEADS OFF!"

Amy has grabbed her hammer and started to smash the robots to pieces.

"Hey Amy, leave some for me!"

Mighty has also hurled himself into a large group, and all I can see is wires flying out of the huddle of guards now attacking him, which, one by one, fall down like dominoes.

"Thanks Mighty! COME ON ESPIO! Take care Tails..."

"You too."

"_I've always had a strong friendship with Knuckles... probably because we were always left in Sonic's dust when he ran away, usually from Amy."_

I'm suddenly disrupted from my thoughts by a small scream.

"AAAAHH! LET GO! TAILS HELP ME!"

It's Cream... I run as fast as my bandaged leg will carry me, and swiftly leap-frog it, bashing it's head in as I do. I land rather painful on my leg, but all that really matters at the moment is getting Cream away before the robot explodes. I grab her as I run past, and she holds onto my blood-tinged fur. The blast throws us forward a few feet.

"Phew!"

"Thankyou Tails! I thought I was done for!"

"Not while I'm still here, you're not! Go on, and don't get caught again!"

"Will do!"

Great, just when you need Sonic, you've just blasted him through a concrete wall. One spin-dash would have cleared most of them.

"Punch-diddley-unch! Wowee this is fun!"

"Shut it Charmy, or I'll be punching YOUR head in" Vector said almost longingly over the wreckage of his latest victim. Big was doing well, seeing as he has the height advantage that nobody else has. The chaos are working as a group, pulling wires out and bashing two together.

_"We battled for hours, Guard Robo after Guard Robo came out of the station, and Knuckles and Espio came back, with Sonic and Shadow safely in a hospital."_

"Tails, this is hopeless, is there no gap at all?"

"None, and trust me, I've had time to look. I'm gonna have to fly us all out, somewhere safe. But I'm so tired now; I doubt I could make one trip, even on my own"

"Well, it's a good idea... you might have to."

The time sluggishly moves on, and now it's very dark, but there are floodlights set, almost in an arena.

"I'm gonna do it Knux, Rouge said she'll help me, we're gonna guide Cream and Charmy and carry Espio and Vector to look after her, then we'll try to lift big... It'll be hard"

"Good luck, I'll probably still be right here when you come back."

So me and Rouge picked Cream and Espio up, and took off.

"'Pant' I haven't carried anyone for ages!"

"I've never really done much carrying, and I don't think I'll do it again! Espio, stop wriggling!"

"Cream, how are you doing?"

"My ears ache, but I'm ok..."

"I hope Mighty, Knuckles, Big and Amy are ok back there... we'll have to do 3 more trips, one with Big, another for Amy and one of the boys, Knuckles would probably be able to stay the longest... I hope."

"Or one of us could stay while the other flies Amy off, and then take the boys off together..."

"Yeah... nearly there... god Vector, you're heavy!"

"Well, _s-o-r-r-y_!"

We got to a safe distance, rested about 2 minutes, then took off again to get Big.

"He's gonna be heavy... did you see him break the chair in the cell..."

"_We where amazed that we could lift him off the ground. We have to drop him off quite a way away, but Espio and Charmy come down to show him to where they are hiding."_

"Who's gonna take Amy?"

"I will, you look knackered, and you're tails have taken enough strain for a bit. Anyway, I can always threaten to drop her, just for kicks!"

"Ha ha! Go on then, I'll help Mighty and Knuckles."

As we land, we're wondering whether we'd come to the right place. It's changed from a large patch of grass into a metal scrap-heap.

"Come on Amy, we'd better go!"

"I'm not going with you! Why can't I go with Tails?"

"Because her tails are more tired than my wings! Now COME ON OR I'LL LEAVE YOU HERE!"

"Eep!...Ok"

As they left, another wave of robots rushes forward.

"Oh look, more!"

Knuckles lead into the group, the Mighty, then me. Rouge was right, my tails do ache, but from flying, so I can attack with them.

"How where Sonic and Shadow when you dropped them off?"

"Well, Shadow is worse than Sonic, that's thanks to you, or Sonic would probably be dead. They were both conscious when we got there, but Shadow drifted off just before we left..."

"Poor bloke" Mighty adds, after smashing yet another head.

"This reminds me of our old badnik-smashing days when we were younger, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it does... heh, we'd be working our heads off and Sonic would kill them all in one spin-dash... heh"

"Bloody hell!"

Might has been picked up by one of the bigger robots, and is now in the air, still going up.

"Let me go you pile of crap!"

So it does, sending him hurtling back down the earth.

"Curl up you stupid armadillo!"

He becomes a large, red spinning ball, and he crashes into a robot, and bouncing off in all directions, causing us to duck occasionally.

"Hey, is that Rouge?"

As I said, it was Rouge, flying towards us.

"Come on Mighty, we're outta here!"

Rouge flew at the red ball, picking it up.

"AHHH!"

"Calm down you idiot! It's me."

I take off, and Knuckles jumps, grabs onto my hands, and uncurls, just like old times.

"Wow! I didn't know I could still do that!"

He flashes me a grin. I swear I see a glimpse of the young, gullible Knuckles, but it's probably just the lack of light.

"Jeez Mighty! You're heavier than Espio!"

"No I'm not, he's a bloody elephant!"

"Tails?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you sure you're ok? You're still bleeding; I'm surprised you haven't collapsed."

"I'll be ok for a bit longer."

Inside, I can feel myself on the verge of sleep, but I _will_ be ok, till we get to the hospital... everyone is hurt, even Cream, whose arm we think might be broken. Knuckles has a deep gash to the top of his head, and blood is going down his back.

"Hey, that cut on your head looks nasty, are YOU ok?"

"As you said, I'll be ok for a bit longer."

We reach where everyone else is, have a break, and then set off for the hospital, with Knuckles and Espio leading. As with most of us, my blood is mixing with my sweat, and drips down my face. By the time we reach the glowing lights of the hospital, we're all cold, tired and in pain.

"Heh, I don't know how we're gonna do this, there are an awful lot of us…"

Cream is crying next to me.

"My head hurts! And I can't feel my arm!"

"I know Cream, I know"

Most of us feel like collapsing in the doorway, but we don't…

"Yeah, it's really quite tonight, only 2 hedgehogs came in, well, they where brought in. The black one was worse off, and the blue one, was, well, almost no psychical injuries but, he was obviously in pain."

"Oh, someone's at reception, let's go look!"

What a bunch we where, traipsing blood, mud and god knows what else through the normally sterile hospital.

"Uhh… hello. Why are there so many of you?

"Because 'so many of us' are hurt."

"Hey, you're the guys that brought the hedgehogs in"

"What happened?"

"Shut it Ed, can't you see that these are the freedom fighters? And that blue hedgehog was Sonic! You're so dense! Do you know whose base is about 2 miles away?"

"Uhh…"

"Eggman's!"

"Oh…"

"Sorry about that, if we could have the worst-off ones first, then we can check the rest of you."

He picked out Cream, me, Knuckles, Mighty and Cheese, who would have gone with Cream regardless.

"Wow, I didn't think we'd make it! That plan of yours was great Tails!"

"Well, I definitely couldn't have done it on my own! Especially Big!"

"Ha ha!

"_Basically, Cream's arm was broken, Knuckles would have a large scar on his head, Mighty's missing shell will grow back, all of the chaos had minor cuts and bruises, Big's tail fur would grow back, Rouge was tired, but fine, Espio would be ok, again tired, Amy's wrist was sprained, but not badly, Vectors teeth would grow back, Charmy's lost his voice (The rest of the Chaotix crew rejoiced), and I was gonna get loads of scars, but other than that, we were fine!"_

Espio and Mighty are in the corner, comparing battle scars, Charmy is sat quietly and Knuckles is talking to the doctors.

"Ok, thanks. Oh, hi Tails, you're looking better! I was just talking to the Doctor, Sonic and Shadow are awake, so you can see them if you want."

"Thanks Knuckles."

I walked down the corridors, and into the ward that they where in. Amy was already there, talking to Sonic.

"Amy! Get off! I'm ok, honest!"

There was a curtain between the two, probably because they kept fighting.

"Shadow?"

I walk up to Shadow's bed; he's lying there, looking at the ceiling.

"Tails? You're ok?"

"Yeah, we're just a little shaken, that's all."

"You look more than 'just a little shaken'."

He's right, I've got bandages everywhere, but the biggest is around my waist. I look like an ancient mummy… I'm surprised he recognized me.

"I'm fine."

"Sit down. So, how did you get out?"

"The hard way of course, me and Rouge had to carry everyone over to a safe place… even Big"

"Ahhh… no wonder you're looking so tired."

"Thanks!"

"No, I didn't mean it like that!"

"I know!"

"Oh…"

"Listen, what did you do back there, that made you collapse like that?"

"Well, I kinda told you what to do, rather, I told, your _head_ what to do."

"Err, thanks?"

'ALERT, ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! REPEAT: INTRUDER ALERT!'

"Oh crap! I bet Eggman and his robots followed us!"

"Err… hi! All of you that can walk please do, there is _not _an intruder, there is a fire, it's scrambled the system, as I said, if you can walk, do so now and take anyone who can't walk with you, cheers!"

"Can you walk?"

"Yeah"

"Good cos I ain't carrying you!"

"Oh _thanks!_"

"No problem!"

We almost run through the door, towards the fire exit.

"Holy SHIT!"

"Hi again Mighty! Shame _you_ didn't lose your voice!"

"Ah, Shadow, you're ok?"

"Yeah… thanks for bringing me here…"

"Don't mention it!"

Now that we're outside, we can see the fire. It's near the top, but it is spreading fast. Shadow's standing behind me, holding my arms just above my elbows, one of the only places without a bandage.

"Err… looks like you lot need to go to somewhere to stay, the hedgehogs are ok, but the ambulances are what started the fire so… no luck there… you're gonna have to walk or catch a bus…"

"What will it be, bus of walk?"

We take the bus, and the hospital pays. We're crowded in, it's a small bus.

"Ok, it'll be a long journey guys, the nearest place to stay is miles away!"

"So we can have some sleep… good!"

I yawn, no matter how hard I try not to. My ears flick back, and my tails whip the chair behind me.

"Are you gonna sleep?"

"Yeah, I think so, you?

"Nah, I slept too much at the hospital."

I can already feel myself drifting off… sleepy.

"Tails? Tails wake up, we're there."

Well, talk about a dreamless sleep, maybe I'm too tired, oh well.

"Ok, ok, I'm awake already!"

We all get off, thank the driver and go inside the hotel.

"Yo, Marie! We's-a-got a-visitors! Hello, we a-heard about the hospital, you can stay here for-a-free!"

"Umm… thanks!"

"Hello, sorry about Pedro, did you understand him?"

"Just."

"I'll show you to your rooms."

All of us girls have one room between two, and the boys are separated into threes, apart from Vector and Big. Me and Cream have our Chaos, and Sonic and Shadow have theirs.

"So, we gonna sleep now?"

"Yeah, see you in the morning!"

We wake up at almost exactly the same time. Cream stays in bed while I wash, then she does.

"Oh… I wanna go home and change, the dress has got icky!"

"Yeah, we all wanna go home… but first we better work out where we are now!"

'Knock Knock'

"Hello? Tails, Cream? Me, Sonic and Knuckles are gonna go find some food now, wanna come?"

"What do you think Tails wanna eat!"

"Yeah, ok. Ok Shadow, out in a sec!"

"Come on Cheese!"

"Twin, are you gonna come? Dark's gonna be there!"

"CHAO!"

"Heh… she's got a _huge_ crush on him!"

"A bit like their owners!"

"Heh, heh… yeah!"

We walk outside, Knuckles and Sonic are having a staring contest, and Shadow's leaning up against the wall with his eyes closed.

"I'm gonna win red, face it!"

"Oh yeah? So why are your eyes watering?"

"They're not!"

"Ha ha! You blinked Sonic!"

"No I didn't Cream! Oh well, are we ready? I could kill for a chilli dog!"

"NO CHILLI DOGS!"

So we set off to find food, no chilli dogs… Cream, Sonic and Knuckles are talking ahead of us. Twin is following Dark and me and Shadow are holding hands.

"God, those two remind me of Sonic and Amy!"

"Yeah, Twin has been stalking him for a while now, hasn't she?"

"How about here?"

"Sonic, that's a chilli dog stall…"

"Awwww…"

"Chao…hao. Chao!"

"Err… guys. The chaos want chips…"

"Why not? They don't make you stink, and they're nice, better than Chilli Dogs!"

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say the Knuckles…"

So we found a chip shop, got some chips and were off again, wondering around the town.

"This is strange, we've just escaped Eggman with our lives, and now we're walking calmly around a town that we've never been to before!"

"Well, it is kind of strange… but who cares!"

'TARGETS ACQUIRED: SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA, CREAM THE RABBIT, SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG, TWIN, CHEESE AND DARK THE CHAOS AND TAILS THE FOX. PREPARATIONS FOR EXECUTION 28 PERCENT COMPLETE'

------------

Oh heck! Reviews please, ahhh! This is gonna be good methinks! Well, I'm crap at battle scenes, but I'll try!

- Edited - OMG! How many typos! Jeez... Italics missing, speech marks here, there and not where they should be! Oo... REVIEWS:D (You know you love me!)


	10. The Countdown

Teardrops and Bloodstains – Chapter 10

Oh heck, 2 digits numbers, this is too much! But I would like to grudgingly thank Bill Gates for Microsoft Word, but not some of the spellings… or the lack of them.

(More swearing, sorry!)

Amy: My turn!

Blood Wren: Yes, your turn…

Amy: Blood Wren doesn't own Sonic or anyone in this fanfic, just Dark, Twin, Flare and Super the chaos. But Sonic belongs to me…

Blood Wren: Err… Amy?

Amy: What?

Blood Wren: You can go now.

Ahhh! Fan Fiction cut off my asterisks! Boo hoo! And my: at's, hashes and squiggly lines! Waaaaaahhhh!

----------

"Dark, do you want a chip?"

"Chao!"

The young chao seems to be finding it hard to lift a chip off Shadow's portion.

"Just one chip is enough to fill all four of you right up!" Cream says.

"Well, a big chip…"

Sonic is staring at his chips, trying to visualize Chilli Dogs again…

'56 PERCENT COMPLETE'

"Tails, I don't like this… I think someone's watching us…"

"I know; me and Shadow can feel it too."

'68 PERCENT COMPLETE'

"Hey knuckles, why don't you get a chao?"

"I don't know, never thought about it really… I do want one though."

"Well, what would it be called?"

"Dunno. It depends on what it looks like…"

'84 PERCENT COMPLETE'

Shadow's ears are turning around, but the others don't sense it… why not?

'97 PERCENT COMPLETE'

"Guys… lets head back now, there's something I don't like about…"

'100 PERCENT COMPLETE! COMMENCING EXECUTIONS!"

Sonic whips around to question Shadow, but the faint whooshing sound tells us all that whatever is watching us, is gonna show itself.

"Hiya guys! What ya looking at?"

Mighty, Espio and Charmy just come strolling up behind us.

"You might want to leave, we're being spied on."

"Ok… we're off!"

And they sprint off. I see a glint of metal in the corner of my eye.

"Shadow! You didn't tell me you had your gun!"

"Sorry, I hoped I wouldn't have to use it…"

He turns it around in his hands, and then grasps the handle tightly.

"Chao!"

"No Twin, you don't need your frying pan…"

"GREETINGS! YOU ARE DUE FOR EXECUTION IN 1 MINUTE!"

"Oh, thanks…"

"60 SECONDS"

Sonic and Shadow grab me and Cream and sprint along the path, with Knuckles not far behind.

"YOUR SPEED WILL NOT HELP YOU; I AM DR. EGGMAN'S FASTEST ROBOT!"

"Great, faster than a Metalix!"

"50 SECONDS AND COUNTING"

"Shit!"

Knuckles runs up to it, and tries to knock its head off, only to recoil in pain. Cream is crying, and Shadow's eyes are darting around, for what, I don't know.

"40 SECONDS"

I can now see a faint glow coming from Shadow's hand, he's gonna try to use Chaos Control, but even he can't save us all… but what if I…

"30 SECONDS… MALFUNCTION! 5 SECONDS!"

"NO WAY!"

"4"

"3"

"2"

"1"

"0… COMMENCING EXTERMINATION OF TARGETS!"

His arm glows red, and fires at a building behind us.

"Ha! You missed us by miles!"

"Err… Sonic?"

The building behind us starts to fall. I close my eyes, ready for impact, however stupid it is.

"…I don't wanna die Tails!"

Without wanting to, I feel a huge drain on my energy, and I open one eye cautiously. The building is suspended in mid-air, and I'm the one holding it up, using a shield that apparently only I can see.

"Tails? Are you?"

In fear off nodding (and therefore have the building crush us), I give a small grunt.

"NEW TARGET – TAILS THE FOX."

"Ngg…"

All I can hear is a bang, then I feel it, a pain so strong, it causes me to flinch and fall to the floor, dropping the building a few metres.

"ANALYZING – TAILS THE FOX – GENDER – FEMALE – CHRONOLOGICAL AGE – 17 – PHYSICAL AGE – 15 – HEALTH – 32..."

"32!"

"ERROR – 29."

"29?"

"I'm fine…"

Just as it had gone, half of the energy flows back into me. I can see Shadow glowing by my side, eyes closed and his quills swaying as if a gust of wind was blowing them.

"ADDITIONAL TARGET – SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG – ANALYZING – GENDER – MALE – CHRONOLOGICAL AGE – 71 – PHYSICAL AGE – 21 – HEALTH – 87."

"Shadow's 71?"

"He was in suspended animation for, what? 50 years, so… yeah, I suppose"

Despite the obvious danger, Sonic and Knuckles appear to be having a reasonably normal conversation.

"Well… what can we do? We've got a building suspended above our heads, and a mental scrap of metal that's faster than me…"

"Tails, keep trying… I… know it's hard but…"

Shadow was sweating, and he looked like he would be joining me on the floor any second now.

"Right then rust-bucket! Come on Knux, let's trash him!"

They run toward it, dodging the bullets it shoots at them.

"Sonic Spin Attack!"

Sonic's trademark, his signature. The result leaves the robot with only one arm. Knuckles knocks out his eye and dents the shell.

"PATHETIC!"

It throws them back with one sweep of air.

"How?"

"Eggman…….must've… given it… chaos… powers…"

The effort of holding up a building is taking its toll, and Shadow drops beside me.

"THE BLACK HEDGEHOG IS CORRECT – DR. EGGMAN HAS GIVEN ME CHAOS POWERS. WARNING! RESTRICTED INFORMATION!"

"Ok… what's the only thing that can beat Chaos power?"

"More Chaos power"

"Ah… not the answer that I wanted… cos the only 2 people with enough Chaos energy are holding up a huge building… no luck."

"Mr. Sonic? Where are the other emeralds?"

"Eggman's got them Cream, so we can't transform… if only there was another way…"

"Get out from under the building… anyway you can……..I've got an idea"

"Shadow?"

"Do it!"

"Cream, hold on!"

They dash in between all of the bullets, and manage to get out from under the building.

"Tails, could you hold it… alone for… just a few seconds? I… mean a few…… I'll use Chaos control to get… us out."

"Yeah…….."

He stops, and I feel like he's dropped the building onto my head, my mind crushed by its weight.

"CHAOS CON…"

'BANG'

"SHADOW!"

"Shit! Guys, stay here!"

Sonic rushes back under.

"Tails, are you ok?"

"Yeah..."

"I'll get Shadow out, and then I'll get you. I can go faster than this building can fall."

He takes Shadow's limp body and races towards the edge of the buildings shadow.

'BANG'

I look around… I can't have got him… he's too fast it… it… it… has… Knuckles grabs Shadow and pulls him out, and then goes for Sonic.

"ERROR!"

Sonic's form flies away from Knuckles, and lands close to me.

"OUCH!"

Knuckles has just been repelled by a yellow barrier… sending him flying into the air and onto the pavement.

"I'm… so sorry…..Ta-il-s…

"No! Sonic, if you die then… I'll give… up! I'll let this… building… 'Gasp' crush me! And then we'll 'Pant' both be dead! Sonic, I'm don't wanna die, 'Gasp' I'm 17… I'm too… I'm too young, and 'Pant' so are you! We've both got 'Pant' so much to live for! You've got Amy! And us! Just… Don't die! Please!"

"I've… got no…choice"

"Yes you have! I'm holding up a huge building… 'Pant'…"

"Ok…"

He starts to get up, swaying all the time.

"Get out... I'll be fine!"

"But…"

I wince at the pain…

"OUT!"

He staggers toward the edge… but pauses at where Knuckles was shot back… the yellow barrier.

"I… won't be able to get back in?"

"No… I'll be 'Pant' FINE! GO!"

He steps through the barrier…

"HA, HA… I'VE GOT YOU NOW…"

"No… you haven't! CHAOS CONTROL!"

I feel the wind rushing through me… the screaming starts and everything is black.

'Please work… please work…'

I feel solid ground beneath my feet.

"Tails?"

"I'm fine… come on… let get outta here."

Phew… It took AGES to write that! I couldn't think of a way to get her out! Phew again!

REVIEW! It is essential! I can't write good stories if I don't know what you lot want! Constructive Criticism is welcome! PLEASE! I have 5 great reviews (Thanks to HydraSprite(X2!), Lone Wolf, foxfox and misc!) and I want more! PLEASE! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Blood Wren

-Edited- Bloody typos…


	11. Dust Ridden Base

Teardrops and Bloodstains – Chapter 11

**'Sorry, this bit is very LONG! Skip it as required'**

**Sorry about the HUGE delay, I've had looooooooaaaaaaaaaaaddddddddsssssssss of coursework, homework and revision… Year 10 is crap, GCSE is crap… school is CRAP! I just couldn't fit everything in. I've written about 1 sentence per day… sorry! I've had to stick my eyes open with sellotape just to do my homework!**

**Whoop! Thanks to all my great reviewers! Yay! HydraSprite! I LOVE YOU! Well… 'Cough'… Thanks also to: DigitalSyn, turbotails, Lonely Tails, Lone Wolf, misc, foxfox and XTailsX… you guys are great! Review and you get a mention! Lol! (OMG! Ahhh! Lols in normal writing! Dies)**

**Oh-bi-doo-do… SWEARING! Oh-bi-doo-do… WHOOO! Oh-bi-doo-do!...**

**Do you think you could tell me what you like about it, fight scenes or normality? Cos then I can write what you lot want! AND, it will speed up the update rate, and give me ideas for more interesting stuff! AND… could you tell me about you favourite bits? Please? 'Flutters eyelids' 'Eyelids get stuck cos of needing to keep them open with Sellotape' **

Blood Wren: AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Getitoffgetitoff! Can't……..See…….! NEED TO SEE!

Shadow and Sonic: Why did you get us shot?

Blood Wren: Err… cos I felt like it!

Shadow: Yeah but, haven't I been through enough already?

Blood Wren: Sorry… but… just do the disclaimer Sonic…

Sonic: No one in this Fanfic belongs to Blood Wren apart from Dark, Twin, Super and Flare the chaos. Ok… I'm leaving. 'Leaves'

Shadow: Ok…

Tails: Shadow? Come on!

Shadow: 'Blushes' Coming!

Blood Wren: 'Blinks' Huh? Did I miss something?

----------------

The debris of the fallen building are scattered around beneath my feet. Both Sonic and Shadow's bodies are lying limp and pale on the floor.

"Are… they ok?"

"We've gotta get them away as soon as possible… I hate to say it but… they… they might not make it…"

Cream is on the floor, sobbing.

"'Sniff' What happened to the robot?"

Knuckles was heaving Sonic onto his back.

"I think the building crushed it…"

"Whoa! What the hell happened!"

Mighty and Espio come rushing up to us.

"Long story… could you carry…"

"Yeah… to the hospital?"

"Yep"

I'm feeling scared, Cream gets up and stands behind me, wiping her eyes. I wish I could Chaos Control us to a hospital but my energy levels are at an all-time low.

"Come on, we'd better hurry."

Suddenly losing the ability to speak, I nod and follow in the red echidna's footsteps. It's amazing how quickly the mood can change. From scared and tired, we switch to a sort of sedate walk, hurrying to the hospital, but we don't know where it is.

We travel for what seems like hours, but it's only been a few minutes. A very powerful and painful headache has lodged itself deep into my head, caused by worry. My best friend and… Shadow… I love him. It's impossible to explain how I feel. My feet are aching, and all of my limbs are burning up. My tails droop and sweep the ground, almost causing Cream to trip on them.

"Tails? You ok?"

"Yeah… just tired"

After that, we walk on without a word for ages. The ground has become uneven and bumpy, causing even sure-footed Knuckles to trip, almost falling to the ground due to Sonic's weight. Unable to go any further, I unwillingly trip and forget how to right myself. I fall flat on my face, ears against my head, causing Cream to trip over me. She doesn't fall, but runs up to Knuckles, alerting him of my lack of balance.

"Knuckles!"

I attempt to push myself off the ground; after all, I've only tripped up… I heave myself of the hard ground, only to let my elbows give way. Gasping for the air that has just rushed out of me, I roll over onto my back, panting, eyes closed.

"Mighty, carry Sonic please…"

I feel the soft thud of the guardian's shoes as he walks over to me.

"Tails?"

"Hmm…?"

I open an eye wearily, followed by the other one.

"Are you ok?"

"I think so."

My ears very slowly turn back to where they normally sit, and a small smile creeps onto my face.

"Do you need help getting up?"

"Yeah"

His spiked hand reaches down to mine, and he pulls me to my feet. I sway, and fall backwards, only to land safely into his arms.

"Heh… I learn quickly"

"Thanks"

I take a quick breath before trying to right myself again. I walk forward a bit, then collapse again. Knuckles catches me (again), but picks me up and carries me.

"Grrr, Knux, put me down… I can walk!"

"No…"

He looks down at me, and raises an eyebrow.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing..."

He pulls a face, and walks onwards, the others following.

_"We got to a hospital, they called the others, and managed to get us all back to a place that we knew – Sonic and Amy's house. We still had to stay undercover, but it was easier than before, Eggman was obviously trying to re-cooperate from the damage done to his robot army. Sonic and Shadow where ok… it only took a few weeks for them to fully-recover. As for me, I was still annoyingly laden with bandages from when we got caught..." _

"Amy!"

"I didn't do anything!"

"But I saw you!"

"I did nothing Sonic! NOTHING!"

Sonic and Amy are fighting over something… god knows what. Probably something food related. Me, Shadow, Espio, Vector and a now (unfortunately) VERY talkative Charmy Bee are eating lunch at Sonic and Amy's house. Knuckles is staying too, but is out with Cream, Cheese and Mighty, buying him a chao. Even though Eggman is still ruler of Mobius, his madness seemed to have stopped for a bit, so we're taking the time to relax, but have to tell everyone not to totally let they're guard down, cos he could come back at any moment.

"Don't you think it's a bit stupid to be just sitting here, when Eggman is vulnerable like this? We could go and attack him now…"

"No… we all need a break. I mean, look at Amy! She's gone nuts!"

Sonic has just walked in sporting a large bump on his head, the mark of Amy's Piko Piko hammer. He trudges off into the kitchen, only to come back with a large ice pack on his head. He mutters something under his breath, whilst grabbing himself a sandwich from he table and sitting down.

"Whoop-de-diddly-pop! WHOOP-DE-POPPILY-DIDDLE!"

"CHARMY! SHUT UP!" We all shout out in unison.

I finished my sandwich and walked into the living room. Twin follows me, having had enough of Charmy, and Dark follows. Twin starts playing with my dangling bandages. Within about 2 minutes of talking to the chaos, I hear a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!"

I leave the comfort of the sofa and walk to the door. Behind it stand Knuckles, Cream and Cheese. Flying next to Cheese, is a very red chao, which looks uncommonly like Knuckles.

"Hiya Tails! Look what Knuckles got!"

"Heh… well, what can I say?"

The ruby coloured chao floats up to me, and hovers right in front of my eyes, smelling me.

"CHAO!"

It does a mid-air somersault and hugs my muzzle.

"I think he likes you!"

We wander inside, and Twin, Dark and Super come over and greet Cream and Cheese, then go over to the Chao on my nose.

"Chao?"

"Chao! Chao?"

"Chao…"

"CHAO!"

"CHAO!"

"…Chao?"

And with that, they all fly off together.

"Well… that was strange." I say, re-adjusting my face.

_"Knuckles called it: Flare. He got on well with the other chaos, apart from Super, who followed in Sonic's footsteps: he teased and annoyed. Shadow and Sonic still had a way until recovering fully. Their gun-shot wounds stopped them from doing too much physical work... but at least Sonic could run... For the first week, he was unable to run, making him easily annoyed, stingy and generally miserable. But 'now' he's ok... and only whinges if we ask him to do chores..."_

"Tails, when's the new computer coming?"

"Hopefully, very soon..."

We finally found the time and money for a portable mainframe for out hideouts. It's one of the latest models, and anticipation is starting to get to me.

"They said 2:30 right?"

Sonic comes up behind us, checking his watch.

"Well... it's half 12 guys!"

I flick my Tail roughly in his direction, a warning look on my face.

"Jeez Tails… lighten up! I'm off for a walk with Vector and Mighty - They said they were gonna show me a possible hideout for when things get rough... do you wanna come? Amy will be here if it arrives before we get back."

"Err... ok... you coming Cream?"

"Nah, but I'll ask if anyone else wants to come!"

"Ok... hurry though, I'm meant to meet them in 5 minutes!"

She runs off, gathering people, and comes back with: all of the Chaos, Shadow and Knuckles.

"Right, we sorted now?"

"Be good Cheese, I'll still be here if you wanna come back, ok?"

"Chao!"

We step out into the bitterly cold air, glad to have our jackets on. As always, my mini computer is nestled safely in my right-hand pocket, Cream said that she would contact me when the computer comes.

"Yeah! Your feet may be fast, but your brain sure isn't!"

"Oh yeah? Well at least I HAVE a brain, Knuckle-head!"

"Grr!"

"Hey… calm down you two! There's Mighty and Vector."

Shadow's just standing there, arms folded and face set. Dark is on his shoulder, pulling faces at Super, who is annoying Cheese through poking, and Flare is looking bewildered, floating next to the arguing echidna. Twin is on my head, with her tiny hands over her ears.

The red Armadillo is the first to separate the two, the Vector has to intervene because it look like it's gonna get violent, and it's not the first time (and probably won't be the last). It's never anything serious, but annoying when you want to get somewhere.

"'Mumble' Stupid Echidna 'Mumble'"

Knuckles' eye twitches in annoyance. Being part of a proud race, being called stupid is… well… you get the idea. Shadow and I both shoot him simultaneous warning glares, and he refrains, with some effort, from making a blue hedgehog pizza on the pavement.

"So, where's this place you've been on about for a while Vector?"

"What? Oh… yeah. Not far, but it's suitably well-hidden, and free from possible espionage, but smells a bit. Just a little… nothing that Amy and Vanilla couldn't shift…"

"Let's just go and look? OK?"

"Yeah… ok!"

We set off in the direction of a small alley. There's nothing in here apart from a Biffa bin.

"Mighty…"

Mighty steps forward, and without much effort, pushes the huge bin over, revealing a tatty doorway.

"I warn you now, it's hardly Buck Palace..."

Vector opens the door, and a foul stench bursts out of the door.

"'Nothing Amy and Vanilla couldn't shift'? I feel like I've been standing by the rear end of Eggman after chilli!"

Sonic pulls a disgusted face, and pretends to faint, making Twin giggle.

"After you Sonic."

"You WHAT?"

"Well I'm not going in first!"

"Yeah... cos you're just a big, red wimp!"

"OK! OK! STOP!"

Vector is now jumping on the spot, shaking the ground quite significantly.

"I'll go first then?"

I cover my nose with my hand, and step into the darkness. I sneeze, spreading dust everywhere. Hmm... where's the light switch? It can't be far. It's so hard to see... I know!

"Shadow?"

I hear him step in.

"Can you see a light switch anywhere?"

"Uh... yeah. Hold on."

He walks past me, and disappears for a few seconds. A light flickers on, a single, bare lightbulb hanging loosely from the ceiling. Even with the light on, it's still incredibly hard to see, all it's done is highlighted all the dust, forming a thick, orange cloud. I hear Sonic, Knuckles, Mighty and Vector come in, and the cheep of the Chaos. Twin comes and sits on my head again. I walk forwards, through the dust-laden air.

"I gotta admit, it's got worse since yesterday..."

I risk taking my hand of my nose, and sniff the air, instantly regretting it. But, I get an all-to-familiar scent.

"Eggman..."

"What?"

"I can smell him... ergh!"

"Tails, why don't you try to blow the dust away with your tails?"

"Cos it would just make more dust..."

"Try it!"

I glance at Sonic, who shrugs.

"Try and clear that doorway."

So, doing what Vector says, I turn around, and spin my tails as fast as I can, going forwards a bit.

"Whoooo who!"

The doorway becomes clear, but so does the looming figure of Dr. Eggman. I stop immediately.

"Surprised Sonic?"

Sonic is just standing there, eyes wide. He quickly shakes his head and pulls his biggest smile.

"Not at all, Egghead!"

"I'm surprised my little present didn't kill you once and for all... Shame, suppose I'll have to do it myself... to all 5 of you!"

5? Me, Sonic, Mighty, Knuckles, Vector and Shadow... 6 surely?

"Aww... your little spiky boyfriend isn't here Tails, he can't save you now!"

"Wanna bet?"

Shadow comes out from the dark corner, and sprints towards Eggman, he jumps, and bounces off the evil dictators head. Eggman sways, but steadies himself. A sudden flash of an image races through my head... Oh no! He's got 10 robots waiting behind the door... like the ones we faced at his base, but silver, and... he's got a gun!

"That was absolutely pathetic! This is how you hurt someone!"

One of his hands moves behind his back, then he draws his gun, and points it at Vector. He fires, Vector jumps, but it catches him on the tails. He roars with pain, and lands in a heap, tail twitching. Mighty runs over to him.

"I wouldn't..."

Eggman points the gun at Mighty, and fires. He quickly curls into a red ball, and the bullet cascades off. He continues to run towards Vector. Knuckles is standing next to me, paralysed with fear.

"Isn't this FUN? But... now I feel like... Fox hunting!"

My legs start to quiver, and my eyes widen. He points his gun at me.

"Run foxy, run!"

'BANG!'

I jump out of the way, and land on all fours.

'BANG!'

I dash behind the moth-eaten sofa, still on my hands and feet.

Eggman steps forward.

"Robots! Dispose of these vermin... I have a fox to catch!"

The robots I saw in my mind file through the doorway.

"WHAT THE HELL!"

"COMMENCING EXTERMINATION!"

Eggman walks around the sofa, signing?

"Run foxy, run foxy, run run run! Here comes Dr. Eggman with his gun gun gun!"

I scramble to my feet. Eggman points his gun at me...

'CLICK!'

"Oh dear! Out of bullets!"

He reaches into his pocket, still fixing me to the spot with his eyes. He pops the bullets into the holes, and spins them. He points it at my head.

"Say goodbye... you miserable two-tailed freak!"

"CHAOO!"

Twin flies at him, pulls his glasses off and punches him in the eyes.

"Ahhh! Get off you stupid... bloody Chao!"

Dark zooms over, leaving Shadow's side and joins Twin. Within about 5 seconds, all 5 chao are attacking Eggman. Flare pulls out a remote out of his pocket, and randomly pushes a few buttons. The robots deactivate, leaving Shadow, Sonic and Knuckles to quickly destroy them. Mighty is still with Vector. Shadow runs over to Eggman, and kicks the back of both of his knees, causing him to fall over backwards.

"Tails, are you ok?"

I nod, still too scared to speak. He walks over to me.

"You sure?"

"Yeah... yeah I'm fine."

"Mrrph!"

"Easy for you to say!"

Sonic jumps over the sofa, making another cloud of dust fill the room.

"ARGGHHHH!"

Eggman stands up, flinging all of the Chao across the room. Shadow whips round.

"Shadow! MOVE! I HavE A foX to kILL!"

"No."

"Well... BYE!"

Shadow grabs my hands behind his back.

'BANG!'

The room goes black... Chaos Control.

We reappear on the other side of the sofa. Shadow collapses, too tired to move, the fight with the robots must've weakened him. Sonic runs to attack Eggman, only to be met by his fist, sending him flying into a wall, Knuckles dashes forward, again, to be flattened against a wall, Mighty rolls towards him, but to be kicked away like a football and Vector's hurt too much to help. Eggman strides up to me, and picks me up by the scruff of my neck.

"I've Just HaD thE mOSt WONdErfuLl IdEA!"

I struggle, trying to break free.

'Cough'

Eggman holds his gun up to my temple. I stop. He starts to walk, but stoops by where Shadow fell.

"Tut tut... And I ThoUGht You WhErE STRonG..."

He kicks Shadow in the stomach, then wipes his foot on the floor like he's trodden in something foul. He walks toward the doorway.

"Let... her... go..."

Eggman keeps walking.

"I said... let her go!"

Shadow stumbles to his feet, his eyes half-closed. Eggman turns to him.

"Oh... I will!"

He pushes a button on a different remote, and I can see the room fading away to white, and then again it materialises into a large, concrete rooftop.

"Where are..."

"SHUT UP! Or you'll get a bullet between your huge ears!"

He took three metal objects out from his pocket. They're shaped like rings. By pushing a button on each of them, they grow to four times as big. He slips one over my tails, and presses the button again. It goes back to it's original size, pinning my tails together. He does this again, twice more. If the rings can't go back to they're original size, they just go as small as they can. Tears inadvertently fall down my face, cos I know what he's gonna do next... he's going to throw me off the edge!

"Now all we have to do is wait for all of your freaky friends!"

So... we wait. About 5 minutes after beginning to wait, Sonic, Shadow and Knuckles come through the door.

"Ah... 'egg'selent!"

He gets up, still holding me, and walks over to the edge.

"No!"

"Hahahahaha! Why not?"

Eggman dangles me over the side of the building.

"Wanna play FETCH!"

With that, he lets go, and I grab hold of the edge.

"Hmm?"

He stands on my hand, but it has no effect - It's my metal one.

"Pah!"

He kicks it off. I start to fall, the grey floor a few hundred meters below.

'Back on the rooftop'

"NO!"

Sonic, Knuckles and Shadow shout in unison.

"YES! Finally that fox is out of my mustache!"

A blinding flash of light comes from behind Eggman, who is watching Tails fall. A golden blur zooms past Eggman and races down the side of the building.

'Back to Tails'

So... this is it? I'm really gonna die now? Falling from a huge building? Shadow, I'm... so sorry that... that I was such a coward around you... I was just... I... Oh damn it! I can't even say it in my head! I can now see all of the people below... I can't stand it! I try to twist my body, so I'm not facing them. I look up at the fast-disappearing building, but all I can see is a blinding light coming towards me... Shadow! It is! But, he's too far away...

'Don't you dare die on me!'

He voice comes directly into my mind.

'I'm sorry Shadow...'

I start to feel warmer, and then all I can see is red.

'THUD'

-------------

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! NOOOOOOOO! 'Cries' NO NO NO! Ah! 'Cries more' Might be the end, might not... we shall have to see! 'Sniff' Me tired, I'm finishing this at 2:25 (GMT). REVIEW PLEASE! 5 Reviews and I might do more... me don't know... MIGHT! (Think... I have 5 people on alerts (THANKS GUYS! 'Huggles')... If they all review... I MIGHT bring her back! Get reviewing!)


	12. Game Over?

Teardrops and Bloodstains - Chapter 12

Well, I got my 5 reviews! Coolness! My wrist (right) REALLY hurts, but so does my elbow (left), Knee (left) and ankle (right)! 'Tis painful playing basketball with two 9 and 11 year olds. Alas, 'twas fun! Can you tell me if you like the "someone else's point of view" thing? Thanks!

Don't leave me! I've lost someone who was on alerts... :'( COME BACK!

SWEARING: YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Tails: Owww!

Blood Wren: You'll live 'snigger'

Cream: Are you sure? Last time I looked, she was flying vertically down the side of a building...

Blood Wren: Just do the bloody disclaimer!

Cream: Don't swear or I'll tell mum! But... alright... all of the characters in the fanfic belong to "SEGA"tm and/or "Sonic Team"tm and not to Deyzi Bailey, AKA Blood Wren. However, Twin, Dark, Super, Flare and Fuchsia the Chaos DO belong to the aforementioned "Blood Wren".

Blood Wren: Explanation for the formality? Some dude e-mailed me saying my disclaimer wasn't err... "disclaiming" enough... HAPPY NOW ASSHOLE?

Tails and Cream: We'll be off then? 'Scarpers'

BTW, Shadow starts! )

-------------------------------------------

Reminder of what happened last time:

-------------------------------------------

'THUD' (Blood Wren: Hee hee!)

-----

"No... she can't be!"

Eggman's insane cries of laughter horribly fill my ears. The people run screaming from the street, leaving it deserted. I land softly by Tails... she's already covered in blood, my chaos form now gone, and I'm shaking uncontrollably. I crouch, then kneel beside her.

"I... I couldn't save you? The forcefield didn't... didn't work? I..."

My body goes numb, and my breathing becomes heavy.

"SHADOW?"

"Is she? I mean..."

Knuckles and Sonic come running out of the front door.

"I don't know... She just... I tried... but...oh god..."

Then, I do something that I haven't done in ages. I let a tear run down my face. I dash it away quickly with my hand, and look at Sonic. He looks... different. His face has lost its cheeriness, his ears are flat on his head, he's standing perfectly still, his spikes seem to have lost their sheen, and he looks on the verge of tears as well. Knuckles bends down to her, and I feel like... hurting him... for getting to close to her. I have to restrain myself, my body twitching. He takes one of his gloves off, and reaches for her wrist. Looking confused, he puts his hand over her mouth...

"She's alive!"

"WHAT!"

"She's breathing, and she's got a pulse!"

Sonic starts to ramble.

"But all the blood, for god sake... It's about 500 meters high! Not even Eggman with his 50 layers of fat could have survived that!"

"You're starting to sound like you wanted her to die..."

Sonic just stares back at Knuckles, eyes wide.

"ARE YOU CRAZY! She's my little sister! My best friend! She's... she's..."

"...everything."

Sonic looks at me, confused. I struggle a small, weak smile and turn away again. His face returns to normal.

"Yeah... she's everything."

----------------

Back to Tails

----------------

Where... am I? All I can see is white... am I dead? I remember being warm, and that red but... I try and move my arms and legs, but I can't even twitch a finger.

'You're not dead...'

Who, or what said that?

'Get up!'

Who are you?

'It doesn't matter... get up!'

But I can't move!

'Well, wake up then! Open your eyes, they need you... _HE_ needs you.'

_He_? Who's _he_? Hey! Answer me? They? Speak to me! Come back...

"Tails... Tails? Wake up! Open your eyes... It's no use, she's just not even remotely conscious..."

Knuckles...

"You try."

"Tails? Wake up... please?"

Sonic...

The white around me starts to disappear. I open my eyes. All I can see is a bluey-grey colour...

"Tails! Shadow! She's opened her eyes!"

"Hang on Sonic. Tails, can you see anything?"

I try to shake my head, but a sharp pain erupts in the back of my head.

"...n...no..."

Just saying 'no' hurts my chest...

"I'm gonna check for any broken bones, ok?"

I try to speak, but no noise comes out.

"Ok... blink once for 'Yes', and twice for 'No'"

I crack a tiny smile, and blink once.

"I warn you now, this IS gonna hurt... sorry"

I close my eyes, and take as deep a breath as I dare. I can't feel him put pressure on my arms, and then on my legs. My eyesight is very slowly returning... I can now see shapes, but they're blurred.

"Did you feel anything?"

I go to shake my head, but stop and blink twice.

"Can you move anything?"

I try to move something again, and give up. Just as I go to shake my head, the piercing pain returns. I let out a gasp, moving the obviously blood-matted fur around my muzzle.

"Well, I can't feel anything broken, but the fact that you can't feel anything is quite worrying..."

He looks around, trying to find what to say next. I can just make out his face turning away.

"And your skull's cracked a bit..."

He hovers before saying 'Bit' then sighs at himself in disappointment.

"Shadow, have you got enough chaos energy to get yourself and Tails back?"

Shadow nods. Dr. Knuckles... how he learnt these things is still a great mystery to me... maybe it was all the time of looking after himself, alone on his island...

"Me and Sonic will walk back, we shouldn't be too long... get Amy and Cream to put more bandages on her fresh wounds... sorry Tails..."

Shadow nods and picks me up. I wince as he hits a particularly sore spot, and a small growl rises in my throat, but nothing more. I can see my blood already staining his gloves and covering his arms, but he doesn't seem to care. He just looks forward, not directly at Knuckles, just past his shoulder, with an un-readable look on his face. I try to reassure him by lightly nuzzling his chest fur with what strength I have left. He tightens his grip significantly and mutters:

"Chaos Control"

Everything around us suddenly turns pitch black. The cold sends a shiver down my spine, causing pain to erupt everywhere. I cry out in pain, knowing no one can hear me, not even Shadow. His eyes are closed and his ears are turned away. The red lights flash by occasionally as they did the first time I travelled by Chaos Control, and we land safely just outside the house. As he opens his eyes, his footing falters slightly, but he steadies himself. I can feel him shaking, and I wish there was something I could do to reassure him. He knocks the door with his foot. Cream answers.

"Oh no! What happened!"

Shadow closes his eyes again and breathes in deeply, not ready to explain.

"Nevermind... AMY! Come in quick!"

"Oh my god! Shadow bring her in here now!"

Amy indicates to the living room. Shadow gently puts me down onto the sofa. I can't even wince.

"Cream, could you get the spare bed stuff... yeah, at the top of the cupboard. Right then... where's the others?"

After taking another deep breath, Shadow finally speaks.

"Sonic and Knuckles are on their way, and Mighty is looking after Vector and I think the Chaos are with them."

"What happened to Vector?"

"He was shot in the tail."

Amy pulls a face and turns to me.

"So, what happened?"

'Knock Knock'

"D'you think that's Sonic and Knuckles?"

Shadow nods, and Amy leaves. He comes over to me, and kneels beside me. He opens his mouth to say something, but closes it again. I smile slightly, and he smiles back.

"Where is she?"

"In the living room... look, what happened?"

"Sonic, you tell her, I'll go and see how she's doing."

Knuckles walks in with Flare, Twin and Dark. Twin comes zooming up to me, wailing with tiny Chao tears streaming down her face. She's about to land next to me, but stops when she sees the colour. What was a pale blue sofa, is now dark red, as is Shadow's gloves and forearms. I start to feel light-headed and dizzy.

"...ngg..."

Shadow looks worriedly into my eyes. I try to breathe in deeply, but only to let all of the air in a painful gasp. I close my eyes as tightly as I can, wishing the pain away... This painful silence is at last broken by Knuckles.

"Amy... where do you keep the bandages? And the... umm.. err"

His voice is panicky, and he's trying to hide his emotions, but failing.

"Salve? I've got them..."

Amy hands them to Knuckles, who tries to look calm. He walks slowly towards me, and Shadow moves quickly out of the way.

"Sorry"

He whispered in my ear. Amy turns out and ushers a bedding-laden Cream out of the room. He gently turns my head, every inch that he moves it, the more I scrunch my eyes up. I can sense his hand close to the wound and I brace myself, my heart in my throat and my lungs working overtime. He puts the salve on the wound, and I inadvertently scream out in pain, and tears fall from my now wide open eyes. I try and glance at Sonic, only to see Shadow dash over to the door.

"Shadow... Tails, hang in there."

And he runs off after him, leaving me morally alone.

-----------------------

Over to you, Sonic

-----------------------

I look quickly up and down the hallway, searching for Shadow. I open the room directly in front of me, the spare room. Cream and Amy are here with the old TV turned up high.

"Have you seen Shadow?"

"No... why? He hasn't left Tails in there alone?"

"Only her and Knux.. thanks though, I've gotta go look for him."

"Why's it so bad now? This has happened to her before..."

"Yeah.. but she's never fallen off a building before, it's never been quite this bad and she's never been conscious..."

I close the door and sigh. I walk quickly into the dining room, not expecting what I see. Shadow's just sat there, his head in his hands and he's... he's crying... really crying. Another scream comes from the living room, and the TV where Cream and Amy are gets even louder. Shadow poses himself to get up, but slumps back again.

"Shadow?"

He pauses, turns, looks at me, then turns back.

"I bet you really hate me now... running out when she's like... like that..."

"No..."

"I just can't stand seeing her... like that..."

She screams louder than ever, but cuts out prematurely, and is followed by a loud 'Shit' from Knuckles. This time, Shadow leaps out of his seat and follows me in running back to the living room.

"What happened!"

"She's stopped breathing..."

"Oh shit..."

And with that, Shadow promptly collapses beside me. I grab him, and heave him onto the smaller sofa.

"C'mon Tails, don't do this to yourself... don't do this to Shadow... Sonic, call an ambulance... I can't do this on my own anymore."

I run out of the room to the opposite side of the hallway.

"Amy... TV off, phone, ambulance, Tails not breathing, quick."

She seems to understand. Cream's eyes grow wide and full of tears, and she leaps off the sofa, runs up the stairs and into the room Tails and her share, slamming the door. Now I know how Tails felt at the beach party, just before she got attacked.Now I'm the one making no sense. I can keep my cool when Tails is around, I know she needs me to be strong, I'm someone she can fall back on, but once she's not there, I'm just as insecure as she is. I walk round the corner, and lean on the wall behind me. I can hear Cream sobbing upstairs, and Twin screaming. I blot them out, and all I can hear is my own heart, beating so slowly that I'm not sure it's beating at all. Coughing and spluttering suddenly erupt from the other room.

"She breathes!"

I feel as though I've held my breath with her all this time, and sigh it out.

"Yeah... what is she? Oh, a fox... thanks. They're on their way. Sonic? Are you ok?"

"No... I feel as if part of me's died, even though she's breathing..."

"Hey... she's ok now, right?"

I feel anger burning a trail through my mind... but restrain it as much as I can.

"Hardly... Amy, she's just stopped breathing, and not even Tails has an infinite amount of blood... she's not 'ok'" I snap at her.

"Sorry..."

I pause and think...

"No., I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I'm just feeling so... that's no excuse..."

Instead of replying, she hugs me, which I return. It's times like this that I realise how much I love her. Sure, she can be more annoying than Charmy, she wines all too often, and when she's in a bad mood, her hammer REALLY hurts... but she has this side of her that helps me put up with all of that... even the half pink- half blue bedroom.

"What happened to Shadow?"

"Wha? Oh, he couldn't take the strain of it all... don't blame him... he's had to be strong for her once too many times recently."

She releases me, and I unwillingly let go.

"Go and see her, I think she needs someone she's _really_ close to, and only two people fit into that category, and one of them out cold... go on."

"Thanks..."

I peck her on the cheek, then poke my head around the corner. Tails is lying there, exercising her lungs with her eyes closed, and Knuckles is checking on Shadow.

"Hiya... how are they doing?"

"Shadow's fine... but Tails... not so."

"D'you think I could talk to her?"

"You can try, but I doubt you'll get a decent reply..."

I walk over to the panting young fox, and kneel just beyond a large puddle of blood.

"Tails?"

She stops panting and relaxes into a steady rhythm.

"Hiya Sonic..."

"Hey... you take it easy!"

"I just said hi..."

"I know but... nevermind."

"What happened to Shadow?"

She breathes in heavily and closes her eyes, the strain of talking catching up.

"He just... he couldn't see you this way, and when you stopped breathing... he just couldn't take it."

As if he heard us, Shadow stirs and opens his eyes, succeeding in falling face first onto the floor. Tails starts to laugh, but soon stops as it starts to hurt.

"Oww... no Knux, I can get up..."

------

Tails

------

I can feel my lungs finally working by themselves. The salve on my head still stings viciously, and my entire body aches. Shadow looks up at me, lets out the biggest sigh ever, and sits back down again. I try to put my ears back, but it moves too much skin around my head, making me growl quietly in pain.

"They shouldn't be long now... how are you feeling?"

I glance up at him.

"Sorry, stupid question..."

Sirens blare out from the arriving ambulance, making my head spin. I try to clench my fists to ease the pain, but they only twitch.

"_After that, I can't remember much more. Apparently, I'd fallen unconscious before the paramedics got in, and didn't wake up for 3 weeks. When I did, I could move a bit, and my wounds where healing quickly. I was on a drip, and Sonic gave me his blood again... I'd lost so much. I was let home one week after, but I was, unfortunately, bed bound again... 'fun'"_

"How are you feeling?"

I sigh, Sonic's becoming his usual worrying self again.

"Sonic, I told you five minutes ago, I'm fine."

Even though I feel like the bandage on my head is holding my brain in. I've had a headache since I first came back from the hospital. Like lots of things, this is something I've decided _not_ to tell Sonic about, cos if I did... well, he'd be making it worse by asking me was I ok every _minute_. No, only Shadow and Knuckles know. Now that I'm strong enough, I can walk around for a few minutes, just as exercise. Sonic, of course, objected to the idea... so Knuckles set Twin, Dark and Flare on him. Twin found her mini frying pan and put it to good use. It was good fun for a bit, but I get tired too easily at the moment and I had to sit down again. Cream and Cheese come in and break me from my thoughts.

"Tails! Me and Amy have just finished baking lotsa cookies! Umm... could we bring them in here, and some drinks... we could have a little party! Only... you've not been up for the last few days, and you haven't seen hardly anyone... of course, if you're not feeling good then..."

"No Cream, it's cool... really!"

"Yay! Hear that Cheese!"

And they both zoom of together. I smile to myself, then heave my legs off the sofa... which has been re-covered, so now it's dark blue. Knuckles comes in, beaming for no apparent reason. I give him a questioning look.

"Just wait..."

Come to think about it, Sonic and Knuckles have been playing pranks on each other more often now... just silly things like whoopee cushions and switching the sugar with the salt. Judging by Knuckles' face though, it's an old one... you know, like the ones you read in comics. Just as Shadow walks through the door, a clatter of buckets comes from the kitchen, followed by an "Ahhhhhh!"

"Yes! Got 'im!"

"What did you do!"

"I'LL GET THAT BLOODY ECHIDNA!"

"What did you do?" I repeat.

Knuckles just points at the door, and covers his mouth with his other hand to stop him laughing. Sonic walks through the door... covered in feathers. Knuckles can't hold it in anymore, Shadow turns around and smirks and due to the shock, I have a coughing fit with laughter in-between. Amy walks past with the cookies and pauses.

"Suits you, Sonic."

Then she walks towards the table, smiling. Sonic glares at Knuckles and grits his teeth.

"If anyone wants me, I'll be upstairs plucking myself."

He slips through the door and leaves in a flurry of feathers. And we all burst out laughing.

"He'll be in a mood with you Knux... don't think he'll forget this."

Knuckles is almost on the floor, eyes streaming.

"Hahahahaha... haha...ha. Funny though...Hahaha... he looks like a chicken!"

"Yeah but Amy, Sonic DID start all this..."

We eventually calm down, and eat. I've gotta admit, this is making me feel better. Cream was right, I haven't seen everyone together since just after I came home, and it's nice to talk to them again. But after a while, I get dizzy again and have to sit down.

Twin and Flare fly over with a few chocolate chips, and sit next to me, talking in Chao. I sit there watching them for ages, and they give me a few pieces from their stash. Dark flies over with more. I start to drift off into a light sleep, but I wake up when I feel someone sit down next to me. I open my left eye slightly... it's Shadow.

"Morning sleepy..."

"Hi."

I open both my eyes fully, and watch Super flying towards he other Chaos, only to get whacked by Twin's frying pan. I laugh a little, but a sharp pain bursts into my chest, like it did when Shadow fell off the sofa. I close my eyes and breathe slowly, becoming more and more dizzy. I can feel Shadow's hand hold mine, and I squeeze it lightly. I lean my head on his shoulder, and open my eyes. I can feel the pain leaving. I take a few more steady breaths, then relax again. I look up and see Knuckles with a serious face, so I smile at him. He rolls his eyes, smiles back, and continues talking to Cream.

"You ok?"

I nod. I scan the room, and for the first time, I notice a large package in the corner.

"Shadow? What's in the box?"

"Don't tell me you don't know... you honestly don't? Ok... err... what where you waiting for before we went to... you know."

"It's the mainframe? But no one told me it had arrived!"

"Well... we kinda forgot, given the circumstances..."

"Oh... yeah. Sorry."

"Just promise me that you won't get it out this week, you need to rest..."

"Next week?"

"We'll see..."

I sigh. Twin and dark give us both their last chocolate chips, and fly off to get more. I begin to doze off again, on Shadow's shoulder.

"_I remember feeling his hand on my back, but then I fell asleep..."_

--------

SEE! I got 5 reviews - I kept her ALIVE! YAY! PLEASE put criticism into your reviews! I love them all, but I need to know if I'm doing anything wrong... and could you e-mail me if you find any spelling mistakes or grammar errors... or tense changingness :)... I have IDEAS People.. so now I can write chapters 13 and 14! YES! 2 Chapters are in the making! Anyways... cya in chapter 13!

B.W.


	13. Home

Teardrops and Bloodstains – Chapter 13 - Home

Ohhh… Unlucky number 13! I hope it's lucky for me! My writing HAS DEFINATLY changed cos I seem to have grown up a lot in a few months! Oh… "Burn"… I know what you mean… but read the second thing Shadow says at the beginning of chapter 12… It might answer your question! If not, mail me. Tal, your English is probably better than mine ^_^u. And I'm English (well, Welsh actually). And all the support I've had from the other reviews… WOW! Thanks guys! At the moment, I have 35 reviews, 16 favourites and 11 alerts! Yayness! ^_^. ARRGH! I'm so sorry! I started writing this in February, but wrote everything after the first paragraph in July… and now it's March 3 years later! *whacks head on desk*

Eggman is changing to Robotnik… sorry guys, but it's hard to type Eggman when all I can see in my mind is ROBOTNIK… *Shifty eyes* Like that made any sense…! Oh, and I'm giving them clothes… it's getting too hard with them all standing in the nudders! XP

Blood Wren: No one belongs to me… blah blah blah, you should know the drill by now… I can't be bothered… meh…

------

I start to stir, a cramp in my neck. I wake to find myself still resting on Shadow's shoulder. He's dozing peacefully, head leaning gently on mine. I try to slip out of his arms without waking him. He murmurs quietly in his sleep, but I manage to get off the sofa. I walk slowly towards the kitchen, and get myself a glass of orange juice. Glancing up at the clock, and discover that it's only 7:28. Sonic's alarm will be going off in about 2 minutes. I sigh to myself, it's so loud, I'm surprised the whole street doesn't hear it. I settle myself into one of the giant bean-bags scattered around the dining room, and sip my drink. Sure enough, a loud beeping erupts from upstairs. Sonic is the first down, closely followed by Knuckles. Flare and Super follow, bickering. Flare spots me, and zooms over, knocking Super through the air and into Sonic's head.

"Hiya Flare…"

"CHAO!"

"Tails? What are you doing up so early?"

I shrug and drain the last of my drink and go to put it by the sink, but fall into the wall, the dizziness from standing up too quickly catching up. Both Knuckles and Sonic start to rush to my aid.

"Guys… I'm fine… jeez… I just got up too quickly… ok?"

Head still spinning, I steady myself and squeeze between the hedgehog and the echidna, and walk slowly back to the living room. Shadow is sat there, still fast asleep. I smile, sigh and look out the window. The sun is out and people are coming out of their houses to go to work or school. I laugh slightly to myself; everyone else seems to have perfectly normal lives… except me, but then again, I'm not normal am I? I sigh again and lower my ears, feeling the chaos energy gently stirring inside of me.

'Why would you want to be normal?'

Huh? It's that voice from before…

'You're different, but it isn't a bad thing.'

What do you mean?

'Your friends all love you for who you are, and that won't ever change.'

I suppose…but, who are you?!

'I'm you.'

Me?

'I'm the child you had to leave behind, your memories from when you were younger. I'm you before the accident happened.'

A-Accident?

'At the village.'

It wasn't an accident! They came and torched the place!! They murdered everyone! My friends, my family!

'You were forced to grow up too fast, leaving your emotions locked up and pushed aside. Have you ever wondered why you break down?'

Break… down?

'Remember when you saved Shadow? When Robotnik stole his emerald?'

Yeah…

'You collapsed and had that pain in your stomach…'

Yeah, but that was because of the chaos energy wasn't it?

'Not exactly, it made you worse, but it wasn't the cause. Because you locked away everything that had happened, it bursts out in powerful waves, almost wiping you out completely. And while your mind was occupied with that, the chaos energy weakened you further.'

But, how do you know all this?

'Emotions get in the way of facts and the truth sometimes. I have no emotion; I am merely a remnant of your younger self. But I have to leave now. Shadow is stirring; maybe you should try to talk to him about this…'

Wait!!

The voice doesn't answer. But things are finally making sense. The pain was caused by the chaos energy, but it was only able to do so while I was weak with my emotions. I suddenly feel lighter, fragmented bits of information bonding and clearing up. I feel something brush past my tails, followed by a pair of hands around my waist. It startles me and I jump slightly.

"Hey! Easy Tails…"

I lower my ears and lean back into the arms of the ebony hedgehog.

"Sorry…"

"How long have you been up for?"

"'Bout ten minutes"

"Not like you to be up this early!"

"Hey!!"

He chuckles.

"Just kidding."

He nuzzles me just below my ear, making my twitch and fidget.

"Shadoooow…"

"What?"

I turn around in his arms and stare straight at him, trying to look serious. He cracks a smile and starts to chuckle again.

"It's not funny!"

I pout and he raises his eyebrow. I instantly lose my 'serious' face and start to giggle. I nuzzle him just under his chin.

"Come on, I'm hungry."

He kisses me on the forehead and turns to leave the room.

"Shadow…"

"Hmm?"

I pause. I never keep things from Shadow but… everything is finally becoming normal, I don't want to spoil the happy mood everyone is in…

"Nothing… sorry."

I smile and push my bangs out of my eyes. He seems convinced and carries on walking. I sigh to myself and follow him into the middle room where Twin and Dark are sat on one of the beanbags, blathering on about something, while Sonic and Knuckles are having another staring contest, with their Chaos imitating their behaviour. Cheese seems to be some kind of referee…

"We're gonna win! Right Flare?"

"Chao chao!"

"We can't let those red looosers win now, can we Super?"

"Chaaoooo!"

Cream is slumped on a beanbag, reading one of her now vast collection of teen magazines. Glad I never went through the stroppy teenager phase, I grab myself a slice of toast that Amy made whilst half asleep. She's leaning on the counter, still in her dressing gown, with large cup of coffee in her hand.

"You ok Amy?"

She continues to stare at the doorframe.

"Amy?"

"Wha? Oh, sorry Tails… I drifted off a bit then."

"It's ok… late night?"

"Not really… well… Sonic was snoring again…"

I chuckle.

"Ah… it's like trying to sleep next to a working drill!"

Amy gives a slight chuckle, then continues staring into space. Not-so-fond memories of having to share the same room as Sonic when I was younger come to the front of my mind. I shake them off and take a few mouthfuls of toast.

"WHAT?! I SOOO DID NOT BLINK!!!"

I roll my eyes and shake my head again… apparently Knuckles won. Shadow wanders in and opens the fridge, empty apart from a tiny piece of old cheese.

"Err… whose turn was it to go shopping?"

"Sonic's!"

"Knuckles'!"

Shadow rubs his forehead.

"Aughhh! I'll go then…"

He glances at the clock. It's 7:50.

"… In about an hour."

Amy smirks and stands up straight.

"I'm gonna go get dressed, make sure Sonic doesn't hurt himself, ok?"

She puts the rest of her coffee down the sink and walks off. I look up at Shadow, who's flitting through the cupboards, trying to find something to eat.

"D'ya mind if I come? Only, I've got to get more magazines for Cream."

"Now, why would I mind?" He gives me one of his wolfish grins. "Has that kettle finished yet?!"

"Well, it won't go any faster if you keep nagging it!"

He walks behind me, wraps his arms around my waist and proceeds to stare at it from the other side of my shoulder.

"S'it going any faster now? … How about now?"

"Oh shush!"

Dark flies in with a piece of toast that's too big for him to carry and flies straight into the side of Shadow's head. The buttery slice of bread slips down his face, leaving a slimy trail in its wake. Twin flies over and helps Dark pick it off of the floor. Dark looks all apologetic and flinches when Shadow opens his mouth.

"Yeah… I, err, I think I'm gonna wash my face now."

I laugh, turn around in his arms, and gently lick some of the butter off from around his mouth. He stands there, looking stunned. I giggle and reach for the coffee.

"Well don't just stand there! I though you were going to wash your face!"

He blinks at me.

"What just… never mind."

He lets go and shuffles toward the bathroom and I smirk to myself. My confidence when I'm around him seems to have grown quite a bit, as has his around me. The kettle finishes boiling and I pour it into my cup. I idly stir it while looking at a coffee granule that missed the cup. My mood drops as I brush the fur from my eyes and sigh; it's just another Monday morning… great.

I mean, who the hell invented Mondays? Why? What possessed them?! Why am I even asking this? What is the meaning of life and therefore Mondays? I stop, surprised at my sudden maddened mental ramble. I start to doubt whether they sewed my head together properly or not. Cream walks in, her now mid-length head-fur tied up in a small paintbrush ponytail. She swills out her glass and leaves it to soak.

"Something up Tails?"

"Huh? Oh… no, just asking myself pointless existential questions as usual."

I scratch the deep scar on the back of my head.

"I told you not to touch it!"

Knuckles wanders in and moves my arm back to my coffee.

"Aww… but it's so… grr!"

"I know… but if you want it to heal…"

"…"

"Oh… and it was Sonic's turn to go shopping…"

"Hmm… thought so. Oh well, me and Shadow are going now, he'll just have to do it twice in a row!"

He pours himself another coffee and leans back onto the small amount of wall space. Cream leaves, one of her magazines under her arm, and goes off into her room. Knuckles take a few sips and smiles.

"Shadow seems to have lightened up quite a bit since you two got together."

"You reckon? Yeah, I suppose he has. I haven't seen him in one of this 'black' moods for a while now."

"And you've grown up, young one."

He leaves his spot, walks over to me and pokes my nose.

"I told you to stop calling me that! Anyway, I'm 17 now… I'm nearly an adult!"

"Nearly Tails… nearly."

"Yeah well, I act damned sight older than Sonic!"

"That's not hard but… I see your point though. You act older and more responsibly than any of us."

He winks and leaves. I stand there mulling his words over. I do though; I do act more mature than just about everyone here does. Shadow and Knuckles coming in second, despite Knuckles' childishness while around Sonic. He can relax into an almost intellectual state while he's around me, and it really brings out his Guardian upbringing. I stretch and yawn, a few muscles twitching.

"S'it done _now_?"

He seems to have appeared over my shoulder again.

"Yes, Shadow, it's done. Here's your coffee."

I hand him the black mug. He whispers a small "Thanks" into my ear and nuzzles it.

"You're too happy in the mornings!"

"And?"

"And, I'm not a morning person!"

"You should be! Anyway… when does the shop open?"

"'Bout 8:30."

He glances at the clock.

"We'll start wandering up at about 8… ok?"

I nod and flick my bangs out of my face, only for them to fall into a more annoying position. My head-fur has grown, like Cream's, only not as much, which I decided to keep due to the wonderful fact that it covers up the gaping hole in my head. It has another annoying habit of covering my left eye.

"Grr… I'm gonna cut it all off in a minute!"

"Don't… I quite like it like that!"

"You do?"

"Err… y-yeah, I mean…"

I start to giggle at the now shy and bright red hedgehog. Sonic walks in with a taunting face.

"Aww… is 'ikkle Shadow all embawisshed?

Shadow coughs and turns away from his blue look-a-like.

"N-No… w-w-why would I be embarrassed anyway?"

"Sonic… just leave him ok? He looks so cute when he's flustered!"

"Ah-bah… I-I-I mean… err…"

"Anyway, I'm gonna go get changed, ok?"

"Y-yeah. Ok."

I leave, taking one more quick glance at the red-faced 'Ultimate Lifeform' and his taunting 'Look-a-like'. In my room, I cross to the dresser. Yellow top, faded jeans, black jacket.

"That'll do." I mutter to myself. Throwing my jacket over my shoulder.

'Knock knock' "Tails? You nearly dressed?"

"Yeah Shads, I'm done now. Go and wait downstairs, ok?"

"'Kay."

I walk over to my bed and sit. Everything's gone weird now… not a bad weird, but just… unusual. Sonic and Knuckles are acting like they're 15 more often, Shadow just… isn't gloomy, Cream's turning into a teenager and Amy's acting all… mumsy. Everyone's growing up or changing, but I can't help thinking it's all just a big act for my benefit. The door knocks again, opens and Twin flies in.

"Chaoooo!"

"Hey, Twin. What's up?"

"Ooooo."

She points down stairs and starts flapping her arms impatiently, eventually putting them on her little Chao hips and pouting.

"Ok… I'm coming down now… jeez."

As I leave my room, a picture of us all after we found out that Shadow had survived and we'd brought him to stay with us until he could get his own place catches my eye. I smile at the 10-year-old me, welding goggles on top of my head with a huge grin on my face. Sonic and Knuckles giving each other bunny ears, Cream, Cheese and Amy posing for the camera and Shadow… with 3 Chao sat on his head. I chuckle to myself… that was before they grew up into Twin, Dark and Super. My mood soars, and I start feeling 10 again. I almost run down the stairs, spin around the banister at the bottom and grab my scarf. Shadow raises an eyebrow at me from the doorway as I speed past him. I turn back to him, raising an eyebrow of my own.

"What'cha waiting for? We going or what?!"

He smirks at me and grabs my hand, leading me out of the door and gently pulling me along as he starts to run. We start to speed up, the cold late-winter air rushing through my fur. He pulls me closer as we run, and scoops me up in his arms, racing off at a higher speed. We start to laugh, for no reason whatsoever.

"_I hadn't been this happy for a while. There was no explaining it, I__ still can't to this day, but our moods just seemed to spark off each other's. We were grinning when we got to the shop, we were grinning while we were shopping, and we were grinning while we walked home. Things were good that day…"_

I sip my energy drink, my eyes fixed to the screen. They've let me play around with the mainframe; regardless of Sonic's complaints… well, it had been a week. Binary everywhere, sheets of paper that I've scribbled on are everywhere. I pull my glasses from underneath a pile of paper, put them on, look at the cover of the manual, laugh, and then throw it in the bin beside me. What I wanted to do with this excellent piece of machinery would never be in a manual. My fingers start to fly across the keyboard, typing in coding and scripts of every sort, bending the system to my specifications. My ears prick up as Shadow walks in the room.

"Tails… I think you should take a break. You've been working on this for about 5 hours now, come and sit in the dining room and I'll cook you something."

I glance at the clock. He's right, it's 2am, Sonic and the others are all asleep, and it's only me and Shadow downstairs. I look up at him and smile.

"Yeah… I suppose I could do with something to eat… and a chair." I mutter, looking at the small space on the floor where I'm sat, surrounded by clutter. Shadow chuckles.

"Come on then."

He helps me up, slipping his arm around my waist as we walk through the hallway. My tails twitch, I'm not used to this kind of affection, but I defiantly like it. He sits me down, and wanders into the kitchen.

"You fancy anything in particular?"

"Not really… I just need food…" I mutter, my stomach rumbling in agreement.

"Ok then…" He chuckles. "Pasta it is then!"

I turn around and smile at him, watching him moving across the kitchen, getting various ingredients out of the cupboards. He glances at me, and smiles widely. We've both noticed that we were becoming a 'proper couple' at last. We hadn't had time to relax, no time for a routine or 'normal' 'couple-y' stuff. Sonic and Amy were fine; they'd been together for a while before my hand… I look down at it, flexing my artificial fingers, their movement all too robotic and almost unreal. I shake my head and flick my hair back, forcing the thoughts to the back of my head, distracted by the sudden smell of pasta wafting in through the door, making my stomach rumble again. I groan at it, lean back on the chair and start to stare at the white and uninteresting ceiling.

Before long, I'm tucking into some (delicious) pasta and pesto, constantly aware of Shadow's eyes on me. I start to blush, trying to concentrate on eating… without dropping anything, which is proving difficult.

"You shouldn't have to be nervous around me, you know that, right?"

I look up at him. He's smiling slightly and gazing lazily at me.

"I-I'm not nervous. It's just a little weird with you staring at me like that when I'm trying to eat."

"Oh… sorry, but it's not very often that I can look at you without bandages or blood covering…"

He trails off, looking down at the table, idly tracing a watermark.

"Shadow…"

I reach my hand out across the table. He looks up, smiles a little and takes it in his own.

"I'm not intending to get hurt again anytime soon… so you can see me like this as much as you want… ok?"

He nods, squeezing my hand slightly.

"Now, let me keep eating so I can get back to work."

He pouts, but let's go.

"You really should go to bed soon, though. Staying up like this after everything- "

"Don't finish that, Shadow. You're starting to sound like Sonic…"

"It's true though! You might get annoyed with Sonic's constant worrying, but we only say it because we care!"

I flinch. He's on his feet, leaning over the table, looking annoyed and slightly upset.

"I-I… Shadow, I didn't mean it like that…I know that you and Sonic… care about me. It's just… I'm sick of feeling so dependent on everyone. It makes me feel so pathetic… so weak…"

I feel a tear trickle down my cheek, and dash it away quickly. He stands there, his jaw slightly open. Lowering his ears, he sits down, staring gloomily at the table.

"I… didn't know you…"

His ruby eyes look up at mine, ridden with guilt. I smile slightly.

"It's ok. Just, take it into consideration next time."

I finish of the last piece of pasta, pick up my plate and wander slowly into the kitchen, suddenly feeling drowsy. Yawning, I put the plate on the side, and start to head back to the computer.

"Oi you… bed!"

"Yeah, yeah… in a minute. Lemme just sort one more thing out."

I clear some of the clutter and start stacking up paper and just generally tidying. While reaching for a pen underneath the monitor, I strangely start to find the floor comfortable, and close my eyes just for one… second…

-------------

SHADOW

-------------

As Tails walks past me, I sigh and stand up, I honestly didn't know she was feeling so… I mean, I couldn't stand it for one minute, but it's been years for her, putting up with being babied, always being looked after. I walk into the living room, and I'm greeted by heavy breathing, and a small grunt from the sleeping fox. I can't help but let out a little chuckle, before scooping her up in my arms and carrying her to her room. I nudge the handle down with my elbow, trying not to wake her, and place her on the bed. She stirs a little, shifting herself into the covers. I lightly kiss her forehead, smile and start to head out.

"Shadow… don't go."

"Huh?"

I turn around, she's sat up with her hand outstretched to me.

"I know you hate sleeping on the sofa…"

"But what is Sonic gets the wrong idea? What if-"

"I don't care. Let him think what he wants, Shadow… please?"

I groan, giving in. She pulls me in gently, shifting the covers so they're over the two of us. I milled it over in my head for a second. _The two of us_, I liked that. I'd never really sat and though about it. Tails slowly wraps her arms around me, a little cautious at first, and then buries her muzzle into my chest. I pause, a little stunned for a second, then wrap my own arms protectively around her, pulling her closer to me. A small growl rumbles in her chest, and she seems to readjust herself slightly. I look down, worried that I'd done something wrong, only to notice that she wasn't growling... she was purring. My blood suddenly rushes to my muzzle, her contented sound taking me aback.

"Y-you ok?" I mumbled, quietly in case she was asleep.

"Mmh-hmm... you smell nice." She muttered back, inhaling my scent deeply, her voice husky with sleep.

"I do?"

"Of course! You smell like Shadow... _my _Shadow..." She trailed off, probably into sleep.

I breathe in slowly, catching her scent as I do. She's right, the smell of familiarly, of _family..._ relaxes me no end. I start to slip into sleep quickly... comfortable for the first time in what feels like forever.

------

Again, so dreadfully sorry that it's taken this long to finish, and it's a slow chapter as well. But things should pick up again soon. It's been a busy and strange few years in my absence, I won, and lost, the first love of my life, I've lost 2 family members, I've been diagnosed with a few things, nothing serious but I've had to make changes to my lifestyle, my diet and stress levels, and I've been trying to keep myself busy with college and work. I started writing this when I'd just turned 15, and I'll be 18 this June. I'll try harder, as finishing this chapter seems to have given me the push that I need to continue.

I suppose I have to thank Stephenie Meyer, the author of the popular "Twilight" series. Without those books, I'd still be stuck in my slump, unable to write, draw or anything. I never thought words could help me, only time. So between my friends, family and books, I'm finally getting back on my feet.

Thank you for reading, I'll start on the next chapter as soon as I can. And thanks if any of you have come back to read this, if no one read it, I couldn't write anymore.

Incidentally, I may be starting my own novel soon, as I think writing may be a good pastime for me right now. :D

Blood Wren


	14. Chapter 14

Hi guys and gals.

Not sure if anyone will read this. I know it's been forever since I last updated TDBS... It's still in my head, don't you worry. :D

I've had a lot of health problems, college, relationships... life in general. I'm still intending to carry on, it's just these things are taking priority.

Hope you all understand.

Blood Wren -x-


End file.
